VT- Editorial: Sex-offender registry must be coordinated

This editorial looks at the issue of state to stat moves ONLY from the perspective of the state ignoring the problem that the registrant does not know what the requirements of all 50 states are. States need to be able to decide who should register and who should not, this is a must under the 10th amendment. Now, given technology is what it is today, it seems that computers -using the criminal code of the state of conviction- could advise the registrant whether or not they must register in all 50 states. A simple letter to the registrant (where s/he may live) will provide them of these requirements and satisfy due process as well. True this would require computers to constantly evaluate every registrant of every state, but computers operate at speeds we humans cannot comprehend; this would be the cost of compliance borne by the states who are responsible for providing every registrant with due process. States need to act responsibily if they want registrants to comply! eAdvocate

7-15-2009 Vermont:

The fact that Vermont had no notice that a man listed on the Florida sex offender registry had moved to the state is one more piece of evidence that this nation needs a nationwide sex-offender registry if the system is to be of any use in this age of high mobility.

The idea of the registry is to help track those who have been convicted of sex crimes and give the authorities one more prevention tool. The public portion of the registry also serves to alert the community that someone with a record is in their midst.

The registry is of little use if the tracking stops at the state border, especially if the offender is under no obligation to report to authorities when he takes up residence in another state.

Robert J. Kolibas of Williston is facing felony charges in connection with claims that he drugged and fondled a 13-year-old girl who was on a sleepover with his daughter. Kolibas has been registered as a sex offender in Florida since 1996, but Vermont authorities received no notice of his status when he moved here several years ago.

If a truly national sex offender registry would take too long to implement, the first step is for states to coordinate their databases.

As a start, anyone who is registered as a sex offender in one state should be required to report his or her status when moving to a new state. And states that have sex offender registries must work together to notify each other of movements of people on their respective lists.

The different standards used by individual states both for who must register and for public access to the information must be worked out. These are surmountable obstacles. The states do it with driver's licenses and other motor vehicle-related records. Surely our children, friends and neighbors are worth protecting as much as our cars.

Simply having someone on a registry is no guarantee of safety. Yet information is a critical weapon for any law enforcement effort. We must embrace the idea that if someone is enough of a threat to justify having them register as a sex offender, that concern must extend beyond our immediate communities. ..Editorial.. Burlington Free Press.com