Other Views: Reform sex-offender registry

9-10-2013 Missouri:

When sex offender registries were created, the World Wide Web was booming. It offered promise as a tool for the public to track criminals who had committed sexual crimes against children. Parents were told how to log on to a state website for registered sexual offenders. There, with the click of a mouse, they could find a map of their community with red arrows indicating where sex offenders lived.

... Extensive research has been conducted on the types of sexual offenders who will repeat their crimes, and the frequency — or more often, infrequency — that it happens.

A study by the state of Michigan showed that an average of just 3.5 percent of registered sex offenders repeat their crimes. The other 96.5 percent do not.

... The reality is that being listed on the registry can destroy a person’s life. In some cases, that’s fine. It’s hard to sympathize with a child rapist, or any rapist for that matter. But for others, being listed on the registry can lead to trouble finding jobs and housing and send neighbors and friends running.

Missouri keeps registrants on the list forever, no matter how young they might have been when they offended or the severity of their offense.

... It’s time to get unlikely repeat offenders off the state’s registry so they can get on with their lives. Missouri lawmakers took a step in that direction this year when they passed HB 301. It would remove from the sex offender registry all the names of those whose crimes were committed when they were under age 18.

... But Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat who built his reputation as attorney general as being “tough on crime,” vetoed the bill.

In vetoing the bill, Nixon said it did not distinguish between relatively minor offenders and those who used force or violence in their crimes. He said it was wrong to remove a class of offenders from the site without regard for their crimes.

... We agree with Mr. Nixon that the bill is imperfect, but those imperfections must be kept in perspective with the value of the entire bill. ..Opinion of.. St. Louis Post-Dispatch