11-13-2011 Georgia:
Hundreds more sex offenders have been allowed to remove their names from Georgia's registry since the state's law was relaxed more than a year ago.
More than 800 names have been taken off the registry since July 2010 when state laws were amended to give sex offenders who were convicted of crimes that are now considered misdemeanors a chance to clear their names. Nearly 300 were removed as a direct result of changes to the law.
But the new law also makes it easier for offenders who committed felonies such as child molestation and rape to disappear from the public eye if they meet the state's lengthy qualifications and get a judge's approval.
Once removed from the registry, offenders also could be freed from restrictions on where they can live, work or volunteer.
Georgia's sex offender registry law -- once considered one of the nation's toughest -- was challenged by civil liberties groups and critics claiming it was unconstitutional. House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, led the effort that resulted in last year's changes.
From 2007 to 2009, an average of 510 sex offenders per year had removed their names from the state's registry, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Allowable reasons for removal included death, deportation or being a first-time offender who had completed probation and all other state requirements and gone an additional 10 years without another offense.
But since the law changed, the names of 819 sex offenders have been removed from the list. Their names no longer can be found in the state's registry that anyone can access online to locate offenders.
This gives sex offenders considered to be low or no risk to society a chance at a more normal life and removes their stigma, advocacy groups and some authorities say.
But others worry that these offenders will commit another sexual crime.
"It's kind of like a judge granting a bond," said Conasauga Judicial Circuit District Attorney Kermit McManus. "There is a calculated risk."
MANY TO MONITOR
More than 20,000 sex offenders are registered in Georgia.
Within each county, the sheriff's office is responsible for monitoring where each offender lives and whether he or she is following the state's guidelines.
Of that 20,000, only 244 offenders are considered violent sexual predators required to wear a monitor for life, GBI statistics show. The rest of the offenders are considered a low or moderate risk or have never been assessed and assigned a risk level, officials say.
"That's a lot of people for the sheriff's office [to monitor]," said Tracy Alvord, executive director of Georgia's Sex Offender Registration Review Board. "They need to be spending time on violent offenders."
That's where the changes to the law kick in, Alvord said.
According to the Georgia Code, sex offenders who qualify to have their cases reviewed and their names possibly removed from the registry now include:
• Those at low risk to repeat an offense. The risk assessment takes into consideration the offender's age and how many years have elapsed since he committed the crime.
• Those convicted of a kidnapping that wasn't sexual in nature;
• Those who fall under the state's "Romeo & Juliet" clause for statutory rape. If the victim is between 14 and 16 and the convicted person is 18 or younger and no more than four years older than the victim, then the crime is considered a misdemeanor.
• The disabled;
• A person sentenced for a crime that became punishable as a misdemeanor on or after July 1, 2006.
Other requirements within these categories are lengthy and range from completing parole and probation to making sure the offender didn't use a deadly weapon during the commission of the crime.
But in the end the decision lies with the judge.
The state doesn't have control over who is stricken from the registry, said GBI spokesman John Bankhead. If the review board decides a person is a low risk, the Superior Court judge in the circuit the person was convicted in hears the case and makes a decision.
So far, judges across Georgia have released 136 offenders from the list, while 160 were removed automatically because they no longer were required to register based on the new law.
"not a simple process"
The Southern Center for Human Rights filed a federal class-action suit against the state five years ago seeking improvements to its sex offender laws.
Sarah Geraghty, an attorney with the advocacy group, said last year's changes improved their fairness, particularly where misdemeanor offenders are concerned.
While the advocacy group represents only clients seeking to get off the registry in extreme cases, Geraghty said it gets calls daily from people interested in getting their names removed from the list.
Page Pate, an Atlanta-based defense attorney, said his experience is similar.
So far he has represented only half a dozen clients on the registry because the offender first must meet the state's lengthy requirements to file a petition. But Pate said he won the two cases that have been heard by a judge.
"As you might expect, the less egregious [the crime] the more likely they will get approved," he said.
Because the law is so new, judges don't have a precedent to consider, he said. Plus, it's not a good political move if a judge lets an offender off the list and the offender commits another sexual crime.
Officials say financial problems and the fear of going before a court again could be other factors that have kept more offenders from trying to have their names removed.
Since the law changed, officials of Catoosa and Walker Superior Courts say they haven't received any petitions from sex offenders, while Whitfield County has received only a handful of requests.
"It's not a simple process," Alvord said. "To a lot of people, it's intimidating."
Even with all of the precautions in place, any decision to remove an offender from state oversight carries an element of risk, officials said.
Prosecutors are limited in what they can argue in court when someone petitions to have his name removed, McManus said. They must determine if the person meets all the requirements, but they can't predict with any certainty whether that person will commit another crime.
"You don't know what they're going to do," he said. "We have to trust [the court's] judgment and hope they're right." ..Source.. by Joy Lukachick
November 13, 2011
Georgia drops hundreds from sex registry
July 20, 2010
Ga. softens once lauded strict sex offender law
7-20-2010 Georgia:
Georgia was lauded four years ago by conservatives for passing one of the nation's toughest sex offender laws. But the state has had to significantly — and without fanfare — scale back its once-intense restrictions.
Georgia's old law was challenged by civil liberties groups even before it took effect. After losing court battle after court battle, state legislators were forced to make a change or a federal judge was going to throw out the entire law. Now that the restrictions have been eased, about 13,000 registered sex offenders — more than 70 percent of all Georgia sex offenders — can live and work wherever they want.
Previously, all registered sex offenders were banned from living within 1,000 feet of schools, parks and other places where children gather, essentially driving them either to desolate areas or out of state. At one point, a tent city of homeless sex offenders was discovered in the woods behind a suburban office park.
"Lessening those kinds of restrictions is dangerous — it could lead to more crime, more offenders," said Ernie Allen of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. "We know that sex offenders who prey upon children do well in prison because there aren't temptations there. These guys get into the community, they begin to fantasize as they encounter kids in the community, and they lead to new offenses."
Across the country, states are trying to figure out how far they can legally go to keep convicted sex offenders away from children. High-profile cases of registered sex offenders being accused of re-committing crimes only increases the legislative pressure.
Georgia's strict law ran into trouble because it cast too wide a net, targeting sex offenders that committed their crimes years before the tough law was passed in 2006.
Kelly Piercy, who was convicted of child pornography in 1999, was ousted from his Columbus home because he lived too close to a church. He spent three weeks searching before he and his wife found a beat-up trailer down a dusty dirt road in northeast Georgia. In April, he bought a two-bedroom home in a small east Georgia community surrounded by farmland.
"We didn't want to ever worry about being forced to move again," said Piercy, who leads the advocacy group Georgians for Reform, which presses for an overhaul of the state's sex offender laws. "Turns out I could have waited and bought anywhere."
Piercy believes sex offenders' living restrictions should be reviewed case-by-case.
"There are dangerous people in the world. Our concern is that this blanket removal is going to potentially leave some of the dangerous people now unmonitored and potentially place the community at risk," he said. "We've created bad legislation and now we're trying to fix it. And regrettably, we've somewhat complicated matters."
Indeed, Georgia's law even perplexes police.
"Our deputies are trying their best to enforce this law," said Tonia Welch, the training coordinator with the Georgia Sheriffs Association. "And with the way the changes have been, it has caused confusion. Every time they get situated, the laws change, and then they have to shift gears."
Gov. Sonny Perdue signed the changes into law in May, allowing the 13,000 or so registered sex offenders who committed their offense before June 4, 2003, to live wherever they choose. The date was picked because that's when the state's first sex offender overhaul took effect. Those restrictions were then strengthened three years later.
The tough restrictions still apply to about 5,000 or so sex offenders who committed their offenses after 2003, but they, too vary. For instance, sex offenders who committed their crimes between June 4, 2003, and June 30, 2006, can live within 1,000 feet of churches and swimming pools, but those who committed their crimes after July 1, 2006, cannot.
"The bottom line was that the hammer was about to fall on us, and I was deeply concerned that the entire statute was in jeopardy," said state Sen. Seth Harp, who helped push the latest revision.
The changes in the law also allow some offenders to petition to get off the registry, clear the way for disabled and elderly offenders to be exempt from residency requirements and no longer require sex offenders to hand over Internet passwords.
Iowa has also scaled back some of its restrictions under pressure from the law enforcement community. The 2006 law there banned sex offenders released from prison from living within 2,000 feet of schools and other places where children gathered, but lawmakers revamped it after lobbying from the Iowa County Attorneys' Association.
The new rules leave the 2,000-foot ban in place for the highest-level offenders, such as sexual crimes involving a child. It also set up 300-foot "no loiter" zones that ban all offenders from lingering around the facilities.
"It's better than what we had, but it still fosters a false sense of security," said Corwin Ritchie, the association's executive director. "It does target the predator-type who might be sitting within sight of a school, but we have so many sex offenses going on within people's homes, we forget those type of victims."
Many states are moving in the opposite direction. At least five in 2009 tightened residency restrictions for sex offenders, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. California and several other states are considering more changes this year.
"It's something that states are still struggling with," said Jill Levenson, a Lynn University professor who specializes in sex offender policies. "One side argues the laws aren't punitive, but the other side of the argument is that once people enter into a plea and agree to something, you can't come back years later and change it. ..Source..
June 8, 2010
Sex offender reacts to new law
6-8-2010 Georgia:
AUGUSTA, Ga. - Governor Sonny Perdue signed a new sex offender law that erases restrictions for some convicted sex offenders, making it harder for law enforcement to keep track of them. 26 News spoke with one sex offender about the law and how it will make his life easier.
“I was young, going down the wrong road. I met a girl. Didn't know how young she was, you know how it goes,” said the anonymous sex offender.
This registered sex offender who didn't want to be identified was convicted in 2001 of child molestation, at the young age of 14 after spending 7 years behind bars. He is now living at a hotel along Gordon Highway, one of the only places safe for sex offenders to live under the old law. He says the law wasn't fair to those who already did time for their crime.
“I don't think it was fair for myself but for everyone else it’s messed up for them,” he said.
But a new law is giving registered sex offenders like him a second chance.
“Really I'm just happy,” he said.
A new Georgia law states any sex offender or predator convicted before June 4, 2003 will have no restrictions on were they can live or work. Richmond County deputies say the new law also makes it easier for sex offenders to be removed from the registry which could make it harder for law enforcement to keep track of them. That brings concern to parents.
“I think all sex offenders should be registered. I think we should know where they are as a parent to keep our kids safe. I mean they committed it one time, who’s to say they are not going to do it again?” said Sally Forner, a concerned parent.
But this registered offender says some can change, and he's just glad to be getting a second chance.
“Get a job...now I can get one wherever I want now, that makes that better 'cause I don't have to worry about being close to a school, bus stop. If a job is across the street from a church is hiring I can go apply for it,” he said. ..Source.. Jonathan Davis
