VT- New law expands Vermont's public sex offender registry

It appears that folks sitting home reading records of registrants got tired of so few records, and wanted new stories to horrify them? What other logical reason is there to expand the registry? Its no more than a glorified telephone book with pictures. However, it does cause harm to those listed and makes them targets of vigilantism and vigilante murders...

10-4-2009 Vermont:

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) -- The names of Vermont's convicted sex offenders available on the Internet jumped from 461 to 1,149 when a new law took effect on Thursday.

Now anyone with Internet access can search for offenders by name, town or county.

The registry includes photographs, offenders' crimes and conviction dates and treatment status.

There are 240 appeals pending from offenders who don't want their names moved from the unpublished registry to the Internet list.

They argue they have served their sentences.

State Senator Richard Sears helped write the new law.

He tells the Burlington Free Press lawmakers felt more people should be on the list as a way to give the public another tool to deal with sex offenders. ..Source.. by CBS6.com


State adds hundreds to sex-offender list

The list of convicted sex offenders the state publishes on the Internet jumped Thursday from 461 to 1,149 as a result of a new law that expanded the sexual offenses that trigger public posting.

Anyone with Internet access can search for offenders by name, town or county, and see photographs; physical descriptions; their crimes and conviction dates; treatment status; and whether the Department of Corrections assessed them as high-risk.

The number of names could grow once state officials settle the 240 pending appeals filed by offenders who didn’t want their names moved from the state’s unpublished registry to this easily searched Internet list. These offenders argue they have served their sentences and made new lives for themselves.

State officials share information about people on the unpublished list only in response to inquiries by name.

The Department of Corrections wrote an emergency rule detailing how it would conduct the appeal process. The rule took effect even though a legislative oversight committee won’t have a chance to endorse or object to the procedure until Tuesday.

Sen. Richard Sears, D-Bennington, helped craft the law that expanded who would be included on the Internet list. “We felt more people should be on it to provide one more tool to the public to deal with sex offenders,” he said. “The public really clamored for it.”

Max Schlueter, director of the Vermont Crime Information Center, said state law-enforcement officials see the registry as part of a comprehensive approach to preventing sex crimes. It’s a three-legged stool, Schlueter said. Beside the registry, there needs to be public awareness of how to protect children and identify abuse, and sophisticated enforcement.

In July, the Internet registry will add street addresses for about a third of the offenders.

Expansion of the registry has its critics and skeptics.

Allen Gilbert, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont, argues, “There really is no evidence that these things work, that online registries promote safety.”

Instead, he said, they can promote false security. He noted that 90 percent of sexual crimes against children are carried out by relatives or friends. “The danger doesn’t come from strangers; it comes from people they know.”

Gilbert also reported his organization had received “a lot of complaints” about inaccuracies, which the ACLU was evaluating.

Karen Tronsgard-Scott, director of the Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, echoed Gilbert’s concern about false security. She stressed people should understand the list doesn’t represent all the predators out there: “Sex offenders are all around us.”

Tronsgard-Scott said the conviction information may understate the crimes. Many sex cases involve plea bargains, she said, because trials are so difficult for the victims.

Still, Tronsgard-Scott said, “We feel the Legislature did a good job. We felt the expansion was thoroughly researched.”

In addition to the names left off the Internet because of pending appeals, the expanded registry doesn’t include the names of about 300 offenders who live in Vermont but were convicted elsewhere. A drafting glitch in the new law mistakenly exempted this category of offenders from the Internet posting requirement.

Lawmakers meant to exclude offenders with out-of-state convictions from being able to appeal the Internet posting, Sears said. The argument for this exception was that Vermont officials wouldn’t be able to easily access court documents in other states to assess the merits of appeals.

Sears said he will introduce a bill to correct the drafting mistake on the first day of the legislative session in January.

“We recognize there will probably be a lawsuit,” Sears added. Two residents of Caledonia County convicted of sexual offenses in other states sued in the summer. The case became moot when state officials conceded the flaw in the law.

The state doesn’t keep tabs on Web traffic for the sex-offender registry site, but Schlueter said on the first day, “We do know from the strain on the server that there were a lot of visits.” ..source.. by Nancy Remsen, Free Press Staff Writer