Bill would allow state to list low-level sex offenders online

A State Registry that is the way it is supposed to be, and is about to be destroyed by the Adam Walsh Act.

4-13-2011 Oregon:

PORTLAND, Ore. – In almost every state you can search the Internet for sex offenders in your neighborhood but in Oregon you can only search for about 700 of the most serious.

That could change if a Senate bill becomes law. Then information on 14,000 to 15,000 sex offenders could be available instantly online.

Currently, if you want information on a sex offender convicted of a minor sex crime, you have to request it, and it takes a week to get a list.

“Under Oregon law we can post persons who are designated predatory, who present the highest risk of reoffending and require the widest range of community notification,” said Vi Beaty, who manages Oregon’s online sex offender registry.

Right now users of the state’s website can only get information on predatory sex offenders living in their neighborhood.

Once on the site they can search by name, city or zip code. The site displays pictures of the offenders and their method of offending, and it lists their height, weight, age and other physical descriptors like tattoos.

If Senate Bill 67 passes, state police would be able to make the same information available online for lower-level offenders, as well.

That would include people convicted of things like sexual misconduct, contributing to the sexual delinquency of a minor and even public indecency.

It will be instant access to information that some may see as trivial but others have been pushing to have for years “in order to provide a tool for parents to better supervise and provide safety for their children,” Beaty said.

Oregon has been slow to add this information to the Web. Almost every other state, including Washington, already lists information of lower-level sex offenders online.

The bill has passed the Senate unanimously and now goes to the House. ..Source.. by Margy Lynch KATU News and KATU.com Staff