Whast we see here is a State AG very upset implying that, those who will not have to be reclassified according to the Adam Walsh way, will not be covered by Ohio's sex offender laws. In fact he is wrong, he forgets that they will just go back to being classified as they were before the law, and their classifications will not change. We cannot forget, the AWA way is to make registrants LOOK WORSE than they were determined to be by judges, now that will not happen in Ohio. The implications in the video are plain wrong!7-14-2011 Ohio:
26,000 sex offenders in Ohio will not have to abide by tougher monitoring guidelines after a decision made by the Ohio Supreme Court Wednesday.
According to the decision which was made 5 – 2, sex offenders in Ohio cannot be subjected to stricter monitoring of their whereabouts if they committed their crimes before 2007.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine says the decision puts the status of those sex offenders in real question.
“We've got to scramble,” said DeWine. “We've got to go back and see what we can do and it's imperative that we do it very quickly.”
He says the decision made by the Ohio Supreme Court is pretty straightforward.
“Some people, for example under the old law, had to register for ten years. New law came along and said ‘no, that's not long enough, you've got to register for the rest of your life,’” said DeWine. “Supreme court says you can't do that."
Within a two mile radius of Pat Lawrence's Clintonville home, there are three sex offenders. All of whom will be impacted by this decision.
“I just don't think it's right really,” said Lawrence. “I think it should apply to people that committed them back in the eighties. If you did, you should have to register especially if it’s against a child or something.”
DeWine says he isn't surprised by the decision.
The question now though is where do they go from here?
He says he has plans to meet with the state legislature to find out what can be done.
“We do need to go back and make sure they (sex offenders) are covered some way so that these people are not just out without any law covering them at all,” said DeWine. “It is what it is and we have to live with it and we may not like it, but we have to live with it and we'll go back and do what we can do to protect Ohio families.”
Even with this decision, DeWine says he believes a vast majority of sex offenders would still be covered in some way and would still have to register. ..Source.. by Tom Brockman
10 comments:
Mr. DeWine, please sir ,give some thought to what you say BEFORE you say it. "We need to go back and make sure they are covered in some way"???? UM,sir, every one of these persons has enough information about them kept by the state ,on top of thier criminal record of conviction, that you probabally know thier shirt size and thier favorite desert by now.I am no professional, but I can tell you right now those who will come off the registry will be so HAPPY, or sould I say ECSTATIC that they will NEVER,EVER,want to remember thier SEX OFFENDER past and move forward, CRIME FREE, with thier loved ones for the rest of thier lives. Mr.DeWine: please do me a favor and start thinking of ways to REALLY protect or precious children.You owe it to the kids and all the people whoes live were ruined on the registry.
I completely agree with the previous anonymous. It seems a pretty easy answer. Use the laws that were in effect at the time of the crime's commission. I don’t know if it is possible due to the opinion in Ohio v Hodge 2010-Ohio-6320 at paragraphs 33-34, 48, and 57, due to the fact that SB5 (Megan’s Law) was repealed. Repealing is completely different thing. Meaning that Law is no longer on the books, PERIOD. Even still, I think that everyone affected by this decision would by definition, be an "Oriented Offender" (if it is a sex crime, it IS a sexually oriented offense!) If the County PERsecutors, (I freely admit of a bias here!) feel the need to (and only sometimes deservingly too) increase the classification, then they must schedule a trial as under Law at the time of offense. I truly hope that everyone is dragged back in front of a Judge to be personally classified, so that extenuating circumstances can be allowed in the determination to be on the list in the first place, but, I don’t believe that anyone is going to be "off the hook" for registering. Pretty much EVERYONE who is affected by this ruling is ALREADY on the registry! Don't let SPIN fool you. These issues are ONLY for crimes committed BEFORE 1/1/08 and sentenced AFTER that date! How many defendants are actually (will be?) FUTURE defendants with respect to these crimes. I can pretty much guarantee that 95% of the offenders have since been sentenced already, and most of them, even released from prison, and some possibly even off PRC! I also think that this ruling could be attacking the possibility that prosecution "may" have delayed sentencing, or even trials themselves, in many cases that were on the cusp of the implementation of SB10, and chose to just wait until it the new law was in effect. I see that now, if done for that reason, it was a bad and lazy choice by them. No matter what, this decision is going to be a nightmare for the Legislature. No matter how you look at it, jamming laws through the system is a bad thing. Well-intended intentions are well and good, but when subsequently found illegal, or unconstitutional, or just plain WRONG, it’s does not bode well with the Public. As one legislator has been quoted, “We legislate in haste, and repent at leisure.” That’s too bad for the public. Finally, I really think that the ENTIRE AWA be reviewed to be more compliant with the intentions of Megan’s Law as for Protection of the Public. Not just “Throw everyone on the registry, even the non sex crimes” which are being registered! My 2¢ opinion for now is paid.
Mr. DeWine, Why not do something like the way New York has their registry, leave the Level 1's out of the public view. Law Enforcement ALWAYS has 100% access, Every offender must register, but the public must REQUEST the information personally for the lowest class of registrant. The ones that the public needs to be notified about are the only ones listed on the website. Back to the present issue, I think that it may actually be a bit more cost effective to the taxpayers, not having to community notify all that were legislatively thrown into Tier 3. Even still, less OT for the sheriffs that must make up those flyers etc. Now with the now 54% of Tier 3 offenders possibly dropping to maybe 30%, not quite all the way down to Megan's 18%, but a drastic improvement, we'll see what happens. It also helps registering offenders with their $25 per report fee. That's $25/yr for Tier 1, $50/y for T2 and $100/yr for T3. These people mostly are jobless, homeless, and penniless. How much more does the AG and legislature want to break them and their families down. Where's the Justice in that? Other (what I believe worse) crimes are not as publicly castrated as these offenders. Without lighting another discussion "fire", how many alcohol-related deaths are there? Is there a registry for them? How many Murders? etc. the list goes on and on. Intention of this law was notification to public of POSSIBLE problems. Not everyone is a possible problem. Not their kids. Please do the right thing for the families. Thank You.
AWA will bankrupt each state and you will see SO going off the grid and head under ground because of the law.
"protect Ohio families" And this idiot really believes what he says.
This video aggravates me. I'm so sick of the one-sided reporting in the media. Did this reporter even bother to try to get a different opinion from someone? You can thank the FCC for their deregulation in the 1990s for this crap. There are no checks and balances in the media anymore. It makes me sick!
i hope that every dollar spent to make america safe bankrupts the whole nation. when you get tired of ruining the lives of people who already paid their debt back to society and get rid of the registry only then will people be protected. the registry doesnt prevent crimes it only gets people re arrested again. and it only sets sex offenders up for retaliation. when you get that in your fat heads maybe you will do something and get rid of the whole entire program and take john walsh out of the media. nobody cares what he says anymore anyway. his son was never sexually abused and all of his bad ideas have hurt millions of people. thanks john.
It is not enough to post comments here. We are preaching to the Choir. I strongly urge all Ohio residents to contact DeWine and tell him you oppose the registry and are pleased with the court's ruling. Also contact your state law makers and let them know you will not tolerate any work around laws they might propose to skirt this ruling.
Daniel Goichman: I'm just going to post a comment. i have tried to write senators, congressmen,governors -anyone in political office and nobody and i mean nobody will help me get off the registry. so i dont bother writing them anymore. my life has been destroyed by the state of new hampshire by the dept. of public safety, by the sex offender registry board. i am waiting for my family to see if they can get me out of the country so i can earn a living again for myself. the laws don't protect anyone. they just make it impossible for sex offenders to live ordinary lives upon release from jail. my only hope at this juncture in my life is that the nebraska lawsuit goes through and the registry is declared punishment and taken down forever. there is no point in punishing 739,000 people due to the actions of 10 sociopaths who have already been arrested for their crimes. the registry prevents an individual from earning a living, from blending back into societ, from having a place to live, from buying the things he needs in order to survive. its illegal and it will come down soon. i would rather be raped, murdered, and set on fire , then call law enforcement for help now. if i have an opportunity to help stop a crime, i won't do it now. because my enemy is law enforcement and public safety. --- Edited ---
"Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine says the decision puts the status of those sex offenders in real question."
On the contrary, Mike. it puts their status in no uncertain terms and thoroughly defined. I'd like a sociological study to determine at which point in the history of this nation we decided to adopt this idealism of balking at the established structure of law that has been followed since the systems inception and adopted this trend of being wholly dismissive of established law and precedent while attempting to retroactively apply things while claiming that's not what is happening.
I'd love for government to just say one day that anyone that has ever had a speeding ticket 10mph or more over the speed limit, no matter when that ticket was given, automatically get's their license suspended for three years then, mere months before the three years is up, pass a law making it a revocation.
How fast do you think people would oppose that one?
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