MO- Court ruling requires thousands of Missouri sex offenders to go on registry

The current decision of the Missouri Supreme court violates the state's constitution, no where in the constitution does it allow the court to SPECULATE that the state MAY CHOSE to participate in an upcoming federal law. We must remember that the Adam Walsh Act (AWA) GUIDELINES are for the state legislatures, parameters for them to conform state registration laws to a federal mandate, but GUIDELINES are not law, and as such the state does not have to conform to them. Further, the 10th Amendment could also prevent the state from complying if lawmakers wanted it to; today it is unknown what lawmakers may wish to do.

Further, already in AWA is a section that says, if a state would violate its constitution then the state does not have to comply with AWA. The prior Missouri high court decison on this issue said, that forcing people RETROACTIVLY to register would violate the state constitution, hence they did not have too. With that earlier ruling in place, the high court had put finality on the issue, at least until the legislature did something further, which it has not done. The current high court decision is SPECULATING what the legislature MAY DO and that violates the state constitution. i.e., the court is substituting its decision for what the legislatures may be.

7-18-2009 Missouri:

By the end of the month, Missouri should have thousands more sex offenders back on its registry.

That means more offenders for authorities to keep in compliance. A longer registry for residents to pore over and use.

And then there’s the logistics of finding all 4,300 offenders — close to 600 in Jackson County alone — who haven’t had to register since 2006, but must now after a state Supreme Court ruling last month.

“Some of these people may be at different addresses, some may have moved out of state,” said Lt. John Hotz of the Missouri Highway Patrol. “Everyone is coming together to find the best way to get everyone back on there.”

The Highway Patrol has sent letters to offenders across the state. Once they received a letter, they had three days to register or make an appointment.

In the end, if everyone who needs to re-register does, the Missouri list will include about 11,600 people. That’s a nearly 60 percent jump from the past three years.

“This could be a lengthy process,” said Sgt. Gary Kilgore, of the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department. “The primary task will be making sure offenders know they are required to register now.”

If offenders don’t re-register, the Highway Patrol will determine if authorities have a current address for them and if they were notified about the Supreme Court ruling.

But that’s as far as authorities go.

“The responsibility falls to offenders to register,” said Mick Covington, executive director of the Missouri Sheriff’s Association. “If they cannot be found, if and when we find them, there’ll be consequences for failure to comply.”

Offenders who don’t re-register could face a felony charge.

In late June 2006, the Supreme Court ruled that the Missouri Constitution didn’t allow for laws to be enforced retroactively. So only offenders convicted after the law took effect in January 1995 had to comply.

What the state judges didn’t know at the time was that a federal law, the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, would go into effect the next month. It required all sex offenders, regardless of when they were convicted, to register. The Missouri Supreme Court last month ruled again, this time making it clear that the federal law must be obeyed.

The federal law is also more inclusive than Missouri law and requires all offenders convicted of a sex crime to register. That could add even more names to the state list, but authorities won’t know by how many until further investigation.

States across the country are trying to come in compliance with the federal law, also known as the Adam Walsh Act. Some advocates say it requires too many offenders to register and doesn’t educate communities on how to use the lists.

“People rightly are trying to get information out there (about sex offenders), but absolutely there is an opportunity for overload,” said Suzanne Brown-McBride, board member for the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence. “We’re concerned registries are getting flooded with people. … The longer the list gets, people are like, ‘OK, that’s everybody,’ and we know that’s not the case.”

Some convicted sex offenders refuse to register until they’re caught by police. Also, said Brown-McBride, the registries don’t assess offenders on their likelihood to re-offend, only by the crime they committed.

In the days since the Supreme Court ruling, some sheriff’s departments across the state have gotten calls from offenders wanting to re-register. The vast majority of offenders, though, aren’t expected to show up until they receive the notice in the mail.

“We’re going to just have to wait and see what type of response we get,” said Kilgore of the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department. “If we need additional people to assist with this, I’m sure the sheriff will make those appropriations or assignments.” ..Source.. by LAURA BAUER, The Kansas City Star