2-16-2011 Wyoming:
CASPER, Wyo. — A bill that would require teenagers who commit violent sex crimes to register as sex offenders cleared a state legislative committee Monday.
Under the legislation, neighbors, school officials and law enforcement would be notified of certain juvenile sex offenders living in the community. But those teenagers would not be listed on the state's online database.
Wyoming currently does require juveniles to register as sex offenders.
The legislation, which was passed unanimously by the Senate Judiciary Committee, is designed to bring Wyoming into compliance with federal guidelines for sex offender registration. The bill would require all sex offenders to register e-mail accounts, online user names and their work or school addresses.
The committee, however, amended the bill to keep offenders' Internet identifiers and phone numbers off the public database. Instead, that information would be kept by law enforcement.
Last month, the House Judiciary Committee stripped the juvenile registration provisions from the bill. When it reached the House floor, Rep. Keith Gingery, R-Jackson, amended the bill to include juveniles again.
Under his amendment, only teens who commit certain violent crimes, such as sexual assault and kidnapping, would be required to register. After 10 years, juveniles could also petition to have their names removed from the registry.
The House passed that version of the bill in late January.
"I think we've narrowly construed it down to just the juveniles that have committed heinous sexual assaults -- these are your most serious sexual assaults," Gingery said Monday. "And I think the neighbors have a right to know if there is a 17-year-old living next door that might abuse their 6-year-olds.
"We understand the argument on the other side that those offenders could be victims themselves, coming back to school. So we made sure they're not on the website — all we're doing is telling the neighbors about them, and we're telling youth organizations."
Juvenile crimes are normally kept private so teenagers have an opportunity to rehabilitate themselves, said Linda Burt, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Wyoming. Informing neighbors and others about a teenager's crimes will keep that from happening, she contends.
"They are bullied, they are harassed and they are pushed out of their communities because of this information," she said.
Sex offender registration laws across the country have become so broad that they are virtually useless for helping the public decide which offenders represent a true danger, she added. Burt said she's been contacted by several Wyoming men who are on the registry for the statutory rape of women who are now their spouses.
Wyoming would lose $85,000 in grant money if it fails to comply with the federal guidelines, according to Senate Judiciary Chairman Drew Perkins, R-Casper. That money is used to pay for drug enforcement programs.
The bill, however, is expected to cost the state $144,000.
Several other states have chosen not to comply with the guidelines because the cost of implementing them is greater than the reduction in grant funding. ..Source.. By JOSHUA WOLFSON Casper Star-Tribune
Showing posts with label (Adam Walsh - Juveniles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label (Adam Walsh - Juveniles. Show all posts
February 16, 2011
Wyoming teen sex registry bill moves forward
January 22, 2011
Federal Lifetime Juvie Sex Offender Registry Contradicts State Law; Justice Grants Held at Bay
This article clearly shows all the different state programs, and likely there are many more, which receive money THROUGH Bryne Grants. Is it any wonder why some lawmakers sacrifice former sex offenders to save these grants? Advocates need to address these other state programs in commentary fighting the Adam Walsh Act.1-22-2011 Maryland:
UPDATE: Note to readers, the 10% Byrne Grant deduction is applicable to a state for every year of noncompliance, not just for one year. This is why so many Advocate calculations are incorrect, they calculate for one year and fail to show following year/s.
Feds Tie Grants to State Compliance with Washington Mandated Standards
WASHINGTON (January 21, 2011) - Maryland lawmakers thought the flurry of seven bills passed last year brought the state's sex offender registry in line with federal standards, but they discovered differently this week and now face a tough choice: Enact legislation to register juvenile offenders for life, or risk losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal grants.
The state will forfeit 10 percent of its Byrne Justice Assistance Grants for next fiscal year if it does not make the sex offender registry compliant with the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 by June 30. That could mean registering sex offenders as young as 14 for the rest of their lives.
Bill Toohey, the director of communications at the Governor's Office of Crime Control and Prevention, said 10 percent would have amounted to about $600,000 this year.
A search of that office's Awarded Grants Database revealed that 117 projects at the state, county and municipal level are receiving Byrne funding -- from as little as $1,540 to as much as $278,332.
"There's a whole wide array of services that are funded by (Byrne grants)," Toohey said. "That's why it's so valuable."
State Sen. Brian Frosh, D-Montgomery, sponsored a successful 2009 bill to give judges the authority to require the registration of juvenile sex offenders they considered a threat to reoffend. But Frosh said instituting mandatory lifetime registration of juveniles is something that requires careful deliberation.
"I'm not sure it's something we ought to be leaping into," Frosh said. "We are talking about juveniles, after all, and there is evidence that they can be rehabilitated."
Frosh, a lawyer, has warned about possible unintended consequences of such measures in the past. He used the fad of teen "sexting," or sending nude pictures to friends via cell phone, as an example of an offense that could lump juveniles in with violent criminals on the same registry.
"It's a mark that will hamper somebody for the rest of his or her life," Frosh said. "I mean, it's necessary in some cases, but I'm not sure that we want to paint this with a broad brush."
Maryland is not alone in its struggle for compliance -- far from it. Frosh said only four states meet the federal standards for sex offender registry so far because the federal legislation is hard to interpret.
But law enforcement agencies across Maryland rely on Byrne grants.
Baltimore has 14 programs receiving Byrne funds, including a Prostitution Diversion program ($59,071 in grant money), an Inter-Agency War Room Coordination program ($207,440) and a "YouthBuild" program focused on reducing criminal recidivism rates for juveniles ($110,080).
The Baltimore Mayor's Office on Criminal Justice received $278,332 in grant money for its Sexual Assault Response program last year. According to GOCCP, the program "encourages reporting of sexual assaults, improves case investigation protocols and techniques, and provides support and services to victims." It is using the grant money to provide training, equipment and personnel.
The program's director, Sheryl Goldstein, said now would be an especially tough time to lose 10 percent of the Byrne grants.
"There really isn't anywhere to make up money like that in today's economic climate, unfortunately," Goldstein said. "Everybody's being squeezed and certainly local governments are feeling the pain of budget cuts and reduced revenues."
Smaller cities also benefit from the Bryne grants. Brentwood, population 2,838, revived its police department in 2009 after it was disbanded in the 1970s. The town received $77,440 in grant money to modernize the new department with computers, a server and camera equipment.
"I don't know what we would have done (without the Byrne grant)," Brentwood Mayor Xzavier Montgomery-Wright said. "We would have probably been operating on a much smaller scale, meaning maybe one computer system for a number of officers and an admin person. How do you function like that from a public safety standpoint?"
While there's no discussion of losing the grants entirely, Toohey said losing even 10 percent "would make a very significant impact."
But there's some resistance in both branches of the State House to enacting the federal mandates for putting juveniles on the sex offender registry for life.
"I don't think that any decisions have been made yet about necessarily how to address some of the concerns," Delegate Kathleen Dumais, D-Montgomery, said. "Even when we passed the bills (last year) the majority of us were doing it because we didn't certainly want to lose any Byrne money. But at the same time, many of us thought that some of the federal requirements were pretty stringent. ... Putting juveniles on a public sex offender registry was really something that gave all of us a great deal of heartburn." ..Source.. ANDY MARSO
January 15, 2011
Some teens may have to register online as sex offenders
1-15-2011 Wyoming:
CHEYENNE -- A House committee heard public testimony Thursday on a bill that would require certain teens to register as sex offenders.
Lawmakers have been reluctant to update the state's online registry with information on juvenile offenders. Federal requirements include offenders as young as 14, but Wyoming's proposal would only register the most serious teen offenders.
It's a compromise that gives law enforcement options when dealing with juveniles, even if it doesn't bring Wyoming into full compliance with federal guidelines, Natrona County District Attorney Mike Blonigen said to members of the House Judiciary Committee.
"I know at some point we might be the big green space on (the television show for FOX News commentator) Bill O'Reilly," he said. "At some point we might lose federal money."
But if a juvenile sexual offense is significant enough to join the registry, then it's important enough to release to the public, he said.
There are approximately 1,200 offenders in Wyoming's registry, and 60 percent of these individuals don't have any ties to the state, said Byron Oedekoven with the Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police.
He added that it raises questions about why a registered sex offender would want to move to Wyoming in the first place. And he supports the bill's stricter reporting requirements, which include workplace addresses, e--mail addresses and any screen names used online.
The purpose of the federal Adam Walsh Act is public safety, said Jennifer Horvath, an attorney with the Wyoming chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. She added that juvenile offenders are less likely than adults to become repeat offenders. Meanwhile, a majority of juvenile cases go through the adult court system in Wyoming.
The bill's juvenile exception won't do much to keep teens off the registry. The reporting requirements of youthful offenses also could follow juvenile offenders for as long as 26 years, she said.
Horvath added that teens who do commit another sexual crime likely would join the registry as adult offenders. ..Source.. by Michelle Dynes
November 13, 2010
Wyo. legislative panel backs sex offender law change (Adam Walsh Act)
Will the Adam Walsh Act's treatment of juveniles ultimately be the cause of juvenile bullying cases, and suicides of some juveniles?11-13-2010 Wyoming:
CASPER, Wyo. — Teenagers who commit certain violent sex crimes would be required to register as sex offenders under a bill endorsed Friday by a Wyoming legislative committee.
Neighbors, schools and law enforcement would be notified of a registered teenager's sex-offender status. However, juveniles would be kept off the state's online registry.
Juvenile criminal cases are normally kept private. During its meeting in Casper, the Joint Judiciary Interim Committee debated the best way to maintain some level of confidentiality for young offenders while still protecting the community.
“I'm so torn on this,” said Rep. Keith Gingery, R-Jackson. “I want to know about the kid to protect my kid, but at the same time, how does that kid get on with his life if everyone knows about him and they tease him about it and bully him in some manner ... and the defendant becomes the victim?”
Sen. Kathryn Sessions, D-Cheyenne, said there were instances in which notifying people about a young offender would be necessary to protect other, more vulnerable children.
“I know there are a lot of bad actors out there,” she said. “And I will fight like the devil for their chance to come back into society and do something that is the right thing to do. But ... somebody ought to know about what that kid has chosen to do. And I think it is a fine line to walk.”
Only teenagers 14 and older would be required to register.
The bill, which will be sponsored by the committee in the upcoming legislative session, would make several changes to the state's sex offender law. It's designed to bring Wyoming into compliance with national guidelines for sex offender registration.
If the state remains out of compliance, it would receive less federal grant money that's used for law enforcement.
Wyoming currently does not require juveniles to register as sex offenders.
Under the bill approved by the committee, neighbors living within 750 feet of certain juvenile offenders, as well as school administrators and youth organizations, would be informed of their status.
The committee also voted to require adult sex offenders to provide the addresses of their employers for the online registry. Although there was concern that listing addresses would discourage employers from hiring sex offenders, the committee was told leaving them off would lead to less federal grant money.
Lawmakers did eliminate other proposed revisions after learning those changes wouldn't affect federal funding. These included a proposal to require sex offenders sentenced before 1985 to register with authorities.
Only four states are currently in compliance with federal guidelines specified in the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Several states have chosen not to comply with the guidelines because the costs of implementing them were greater than the reduction in grant funding. ..Source.. JOSHUA WOLFSON Casper Star-Tribune The Billings Gazette
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