Clearly this article attacks Lawmakers purpose in assigning tier levels; a good thing! Good because tiers tell folks nothing and assigning them was done BEHIND CLOSED DOORS! Everything with respect to the Adam Walsh Act has been done BEHIND CLOSED DOORS! Now See "Behind Closed Doors: The Adam Walsh Act, the states" COMING SOON, a shocking revelation of more behind closed door antics by state lawmakers.5-9-2012 Michigan:
A comment in the article shows us how ridiculous the tiers are, the public wants to know about Tier-3 only, thinking they are the worst of the worst and most likely to recidivate. While this article shows the system is flawed, it misses this, if folks -when accessing the registry- were only told about Tier-3's what good would it do them? Such a list is not helpful, unless it shows only those in your immediate vicinity? Really? When sex offender re-offend they do not do it near home: See Level Three Sex Offenders Residential Placement Issues: Report to the Legislature 2003 by Minnesota Department of Corrections. So a list of those closest serves what purpose? Think about it carefully.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - When Sen. Rick Jones helped re-write the state's sex offender registry, he said it would make it easier to pick out predators living in neighborhoods across the state.
"Tier 3 will be the dangerous predators," Jones, R-Grand Ledge, said at the time.
But nearly three-quarters of Michigan's registered sex offenders have landed on Tier 3, and that has some critics questioning the law.
"We don't have rapists running in the streets or banging down doors or crashing through windows on a daily basis," said long-time crime prevention organizer Barb Lester, of the Heritage Hill Association in Grand Rapids. "Most of these people that are on that list that are considered extremely dangerous, or dangerous predators, are probably never going to offend again. "I'm a crime prevention organizer, and I don't use the list."
A Target 8 investigation last year found that the state's sex offender registry, without a tier system, lumped together all offenders.
It helped lead to a state law, signed last April by Gov. Snyder, that divided them into three tiers. The tier system follows federal guidelines.
In Michigan, nearly 29,000 of 40,000 names on the list are on Tier 3.
"There's more than I expected, but I wasn't surprised," said Michigan State Police Trooper Timothy Burchell, who coordinates sex offender enforcement.
Sen. Jones also wasn't surprised.
"As a father and as a grandfather, I would want to know who lived in the neighborhood where my children or grandchildren were walking to the bus stop, were walking to the store to go shopping, were playing with friends," Jones said. "I would want to know who lived in the area, and I would talk to my children about not going to that home, whether it be for trick-or-treating or whether it be for any reason."
He said the changes were required by federal law.
"Well, obviously people that molest children are the most dangerous people and you want them on the list. Has a child molester ever really paid his debt to society? I don't think so."
State police acknowledge that picking out predators is not as simple as looking for Tier 3 offenders.
And, once again, that leaves it up to you.
"It's information we give the public to let them make the decision on their own," Burchell said. "They have to make that determination on whether they're dangerous or not."
In Florida, about 1 in 10 registered sex offenders are listed as predators.
A sampling of West Michigan neighborhoods found a high percentage of Tier 3 offenders -- in Kalamazoo, Muskegon, Rockford, Holland and Grandville.
And, a Target 8 study of sex offenders in the 49503 zip code, which covers part of downtown Grand Rapids, found that Tier 3 is hardly an exclusive club. Of the 146 faces on the list, 106 of them are Tier 3. ..For the rest of this story: by WoodTv
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