Though Tennessee ranks ninth among all states for the number of arrests of unregistered sex offenders, it is not the magnet for fugitive sex offenders that some other states are. Most unregistered sex offenders arrested in Tennessee will have committed their original sexual offense in state.
Since 1995, Knox County Criminal Court has processed 425 cases of failure to register as a sex offender. Of those, 263 have resulted in convictions.
Over 15 years they have arrested 425 folks, and only 263 were convicted, that means 38% were arrested unnecessarily; even though not convicted I'm sure they paid a price for the illegal arrest. In real numbers that county has 17 folks a year convicted for failure to register; 1.5 per month. Yup, thats a good reason to call in the U.S. Marshals, local police cannot handle arresting 1.5 folks per month. Lord help us, who is doing the hiring in this county.It was not immediately clear why there are not more convictions for an offense that would seem clear-cut: A convicted sex offender either has or has not registered.
Prosecutors say many cases may simply be pending a final adjudication.
"It is usually a fairly easy case to prove," said Randall Kilby, Knox County assistant district attorney general.
Sometimes a case can hinge on where the convicted offender's actual residence is, especially if the offender is living and registered in one jurisdiction but sometimes stays in another jurisdiction and claims legitimate reasons for doing so.
"One case I had to dismiss was on a man who had pled guilty to statutory rape in another state," Kilby said. "But he had been placed on diversion, completed it, and the charge was dismissed. So he was not even required to be on the registry."
Not all sex offense convictions require registration. In Tennessee, whether someone convicted of statutory rape has to register depends upon the age of the victim and the difference in ages between the victim and the offender.
Knox County Assistant District Attorney General Steve Sword, who prosecutes many sexual offense cases, said that in his experience many convicted offenders who do not register are not necessarily scheming to re-offend.
"The ones that stay local and get busted (for not registering), they are mostly just stupid," Sword said. "They are not so much trying to avoid detection, they are just continuing to do what they have done all their lives - not follow the rules."
But offenders who move around and do not register "are likely to continue doing what they do. They will usually cross state lines. And we usually catch them doing some other crime. Unfortunately, sometimes, they are messing with kids again." ..Source.. by Jim Balloch
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