Deadline extended for national sex offender registry compliance

6-5-2009 National:

BENNINGTON — The U.S. Department of Justice has agreed to extend a deadline for states to comply with federal sex offender registry requirements, something Vermont officials have been pushing for.
Compliance checks

The Justice Department announced Tuesday that it will extend the July compliance deadline contained in the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, part of the Adam Walsh Act that was signed into law in 2006.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and other members of Congress asked U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in March to consider such an extension because many states were having trouble complying with certain sex offender registry provisions.

The Adam Walsh Act requires full compliance within three years of the law's passage. But so far, no state has been able to meet the requirements mandated by SORNA.

And the registry and notification program requirements are costly for states that are facing growing budget concerns amid the economic downturn. States not in compliance faced financial penalties.

Leahy praised the Justice Department's decision. "Everyone wants to strengthen the tools and resources available to law enforcement to protect our children," he said. "Vermont and other states across the country are working to comply with the important provisions of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act. This much-needed extension will provide needed time to meet those requirements."

State Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Sears, D-Bennington, said state officials have been working "very closely with Sen. Leahy's staff to try to get an extension." Even John Walsh, of America's Most Wanted, and the father of Adam Walsh, is in favor of the extension, Sears said.

The Vermont Legislature passed a law this year strengthening the state's sex offender registry, Sears said. The expansion of the registry will add more than 1,500 names to the list, and the home addresses of those convicted of certain sex crimes. But the state still does not meet all of the requirements of SORNA, Sears said.

"We did a lot of work, but recognized that we may need to make changes," he said. "I'm not sure how much we'll have to add to that," he said.

No state has been able to comply. In fact, Sears said, Nevada thought it had implemented the proper rules, only to have the state supreme court strike down its work.

Vermont and other states are pushing for new compliance rules to be written under the Obama administration's Justice Department.

"That really is the key focus point, working with the new attorney general to get the rules," Sears said.

The biggest hurdle for Vermont could be implementing the "level system," which requires sex offenders to be ranked based on the severity of their crime, according to Sears. Vermont uses three levels to rank sex offenders' risk of reoffending — low, moderate and high risk.

Sears said the federal system is problematic because "often times the crime doesn't indicate the risk to re-offend." Rather, someone who commits a lower-level sex crime could be more apt to commit the same or similar crime again.

"That's a concern from Vermont's point of view. We feel our system is a little better," he said. "We're hoping that we'll be able to meld the two together somehow." ..Source.. by NEAL P. GOSWAMI, Staff Writer