YAKIMA, Wash. — A Yakima County Superior Court judge is today hearing arguments over whether to release the names of all of the county’s low-level sex offenders.
The names are being sought by Mesa resident Donna Zink, who has sought similar lists in other counties in order to post the names on her website.
Late last month, a Tri-City judge ruled the personal information of low-level sex offenders in Benton County is not public information and shouldn’t be released to Zink.
The Benton County judge ruled that Zink has no “legitimate interest” in the information. In a 13-page decision, the judge said release of the information would cause irreparable harm to more than 400 Level 1 sex offenders in that county..
In Yakima County, the release has been on hold since last month after a group of sex offenders obtained a temporary injunction against the release.
An initial hearing on the case last month was continued after the county’s asked to dissolve the injunction because Zink wasn’t named in the lawsuit asking her request be denied.
Zink filed a request in November for electronic copies of the Level 1 sex-offender registration forms. Level 1 sex offenders are considered the least dangerous and least likely to reoffend. Their names are typically not posted by authorities, who routinely release the names and addresses of Level 2 and 3 offenders.
In the Yakima County case, Zink’s request was challenged by attorney Gregory Scott, who is representing several Level 1 offenders who were not identified in court records, except mostly by initials. Scott hopes to make it a class action, so all 600 to 700 Level 1 offenders in Yakima County will be represented.
Scott said the state’s sex-offender registry system was designed to limit access to information on the lowest-risk offenders. The law allows for releasing the information to those who have a need to know, such as schools and police.
Plus, he said if Zink gets the records, those named could be forever branded as sex offenders. He said the state registry offers a chance for offenders to have their names removed in certain conditions, as well as correct mistakes in the record.
If (the names) go into a private database, there is no way to get off the registry,” Scott said.
Zink has received forms from Franklin County, but the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington obtained a preliminary injunction barring the Washington State Patrol from releasing the information on Benton County offenders.
“Being identified publicly as a sex offender puts individuals at risk of being harassed, assaulted, or losing jobs and housing,” the ACLU said in a written statement. “For individuals considered unlikely to reoffend, being labelled publicly as a sex offender creates a stigma that makes it very difficult for them to proceed with their lives.” ..Source.. by Yakima Herald-Republic
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