Loophole lets sex offenders escape label

5-5-2013 Massachusetts:

A former Leominster firefighter who had been accused of rape escaped registering as a sex offender through a legal loophole that victims, their advocates and some officials are hoping to close.

As part of a plea agreement, Kim E. Brown, 53, pleaded guilty April 22 to indecent assault and battery on a person over the age of 14 and received two years of probation.

A rape charge was dropped, and the judge granted Brown's attorney's request that he not have to register as a sex offender.

Under state law, courts may relieve convicted sex offenders who are not sentenced to immediate confinement of the obligation to register with the Sex Offender Registry Board.

Such relief may be granted if the court finds that the circumstances of the offense and the offender's criminal history indicate that the sex offender does not pose a risk of reoffense or a danger to the public.

According to Tim Connolly, spokesman for Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early Jr., the matter is entirely in the judge's hands. The DA's office has no say whatsoever, he said, and does not keep data on the frequency with which the option is used -- and neither do the state Sex Offender Registry Board nor its parent agency, the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security.

Speaking anectdotally, Connolly said it doesn't happen very often.

Victim advocate Laurie Myers disputed Connolly's estimate.

"I think it's a loophole in our law that is abused, and we've been trying to close it for years," said the founder of the Chelmsford-based Community Voices.

She said she's seen it used on far too many occasions.

"I've seen this loophole used many times, and it's pretty much a get-out-of-jail-free card for offenders," Myers said. "They got a break with their sentence, because the only way to qualify is to get probation. They didn't serve any jail time, then they're relieved of the obligation to register."

She said the loophole gives offenders a second chance at the risk of public safety. It also makes many victims feel revictimized by the system, Myers said, and that they're not being taken seriously.

For victims, she said, sex-offender registration is an added layer of protection, so that others may be aware of who the perpetrators are.

"All of the victims we work with don't want another person to be victimized," she said. "The whole registration part of it is almost, to them, as important as the sentence (offenders) receive, or lack thereof."

When offenders who only received probation complete their sentence, Myers said, by law they can request to have their records sealed three years later. The slate is wiped clean for them, but never for their victims, she said.

A bill introduced by state Rep. Bradley Jones Jr., R-North Reading, aims to close the registration loophole by requiring all adult convicted sex offenders to register, regardless of whether they are incarcerated, receive only probation, or are, for whatever reason, not sentenced to any confinement or supervision.

Myers supports the bill, believing that the determination of dangerousness should be left up to the Sex Offender Registry Board, not judges. She said judges usually make their determination on information often limited to the specifics of the case at hand, whereas the board considers things such as drug problems and past behavior, and can look at police reports even for things offenders did not receive convictions for.

Jones' bill, one of 75 proposed bills relating to sex offenders, is set to go before the Joint Committee on the Judiciary on Tuesday.

Myers said she'll be at the hearing, advocating on behalf of Jones' proposed legislation and other bills that would give the public greater access to sex-offender information.

The Sex Offender Registry Board considers 24 factors when evaluating and classifying an offender, including the presence of repetitive or compulsive behavior, whether the victim was a child, the suspect's adjudication as a sexually dangerous person and the relationship between the offender and the victim, according to spokesman Charles McDonald. Those factors include:

Sex offenders are then ranked on their risk to reoffend and the degree each poses, McDonald said.

In layman's terms, Level 1 is less likely to reoffend, Level 2 might reoffend and Level 3 is more than likely to reoffend, said Officer Brian Rouleau, who manages sex-offender registrations and compliance for Fitchburg police. Three different people could have been convicted for the same crime but be classified at three different levels based on their likelihood to reoffend, he said.

In terms of public information available about offenders of each level, Level 3 sex offenders and their pictures can be found online, and information about Level 2 sex offenders can be found at local police departments.

"If your neighbor was a Level 1, you don't even have the right to find out," Rouleau said.

He said less than 20 percent of the sex offenders he's seen have reoffended. A 2012 multistate report on recidivism submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice found that 5 percent of released sex offenders reoffended over five years; that number doubled to 10 percent over 10 years.

A 2008 report by The Urban Institute's Justice Policy Center found a 21 percent recidivism rate among patients released in 2002 from the Massachusetts Treatment Center, a facility for sex offenders.

Reoffenses may be relatively low compared to other crimes, but Rouleau said these numbers are determined only by charges brought forth.

"If someone gets caught once, how many times do they not get caught?" he said. ..Source.. by Alana Melanson