Re-checking the Sex Offender Registry
Is the sex offender public registry list working in New Hampshire? A bipartisan proposal to answer that question is set to face a second test when the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee meets in executive session this morning.
Sponsored by Rep. James MacKay (D-Concord) and co-sponsored by Sen. Sharon Carson (R-Londonderry), House Bill 122 would set up a 4-member committee to study the effectiveness of the current system requiring registration after serving prison time for a wide range of sexual offenses against adults and children. The committee would be charged with producing a final report by Nov. 1, 2012 and recommending “whether the sexual offender registry serves a legitimate public purpose relative to prevention, control, punishment, and rehabilitation of sexual offenders.”
After a public hearing on Jan. 18, a subcommittee recommended to the full committee that HB 122 was “inexpedient to legislate.”
According to KlaasKids Foundation, as of March 2010 there were 4,484 registered sex offenders in the state and there has been a 90 percent compliance rate for the many reporting requirements for sex offenders.
Amanda Grandy, policy director with the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Violence, believes another sexual registry study committee “would be premature.” Such a committee would come too soon, she says, after two major overhaul laws that took effect in 2009, House Bill 1640 and House Bill 1613. Those came about after study committees modified a wide range of registry issues.
Closer examinations of the effectiveness of sex offender registries have taken place in various states across the country. A federally funded study in South Carolina released last year recommended “the current state and federal laws for registering sex offenders and notifying communities about their locations need to be revamped.”
Researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina said though the registry policies were well intended and supported by the public, “the current state policy of registration and notification is failing because the unintended effects it has had on prosecution of sex crime cases could actually reduce community safety.” In particular, suspects charged with sex-related crimes often plea bargain to non-sex-related charges. This allows offenders to stay off the registry and away from rehabilitation programs.
Grandy told Front Door Politics that while the laws that went into effect in 2009 have done a good job of providing a better registry that the public wants and giving law enforcement a tool to use, the Coalition would still like to see a shift. She prefers moving away from a classification system, based primarily on the crime committed, toward a rigorous process of diagnosing potential recidivism. A system along those lines is used in states like Massachusetts.
“That is what we’d like to see. But we know in the current budget climate, it’s cost prohibitive,” she says.
>> Thursday, Feb. 3, 10 a.m., the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee will hold an executive session on the following bills in the Legislative Office Building, Room 204:
HB 53, requiring the inclusion of certain offenses against adults on the public sexual offender list
HB 57, establishing a committee to study the penalties for menace, nuisance, or vicious dogs
HB 65, relative to the advisory board on private investigative agencies and security services, and firearms proficiency for armed security guards, private investigators, and bail enforcement agents
HB 80, eliminating the rank of corporal in the division of state police
HB 82, relative to the annulment of criminal records
HB 103, requiring law enforcement agencies to take proper care of firearms seized pursuant to a domestic violence order for relief
HB 110, requiring professional safety and security services personnel to report certain criminal offenses
HB 122, establishing a commission to study the effectiveness of the sex offender registry
HB 124-FN, allowing any person to request conviction information regarding public officials
HB 127-FN, relative to the definition of oral communication
HB 138-FN, relative to the cold case homicide unit (see earlier Front Door Politics post here).
HB 145, permitting the audio and video recording of any public official while in the course of his or her official duties
HB 177, relative to the probation and parole status of offenders in motor vehicle records
HB 29, continued executive session on permitting a person to petition the superior court for any action pertaining to a pistol or revolver license.
>> The NH Sex Offender Registry compiles all registration forms submitted from the local police departments. The registry can be accessed online here. To contact the Sex Offender Registry by phone, call (603) 223-3870.
This Daily Dispatch was written by Michael McCord.
Posted by Hilary Niles
on Feb 3 2011. Filed under Justice, sex offenders, Weekly Briefing.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can leave a response or trackback to this entry