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: Lawbeat

Speaking out against sex-offender notification laws

By Mark Obbie

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Lisa Sandberg's Houston Chronicle story today sticks up for a politically dicey group: registered sex offenders who say their sex with minors wasn't all that bad. They may have a valid point, but it's a tough sell. Which is what makes Sandberg's contrarian story all the more thought-provoking. She focuses on Texas Voices, a group arguing that Texas' 15-year-old law requiring lifetime registration of sex offenders is bad policy. Like many states' laws, it was passed in response to a horrible sex crime against a child that might have been prevented by community awareness of an offender's proximity. Sandberg summarizes:

The group believes community notification laws fail to protect the public, because they don't distinguish dangerous predators from otherwise harmless men and women who foolishly had sex with underage lovers, served their sentences and don't need a lifetime of public scrutiny.

The story is heavily reported, but gives short shrift to the other side. Other elements that would make the story more complete: if it explained clearly which offenses qualify now for registration; what change reformers seek; and to what extent Texas' policy mirrors other states'. But it's a good head start on a rational conversation that seems to be needed. (Via Sentencing Law and Policy blog)

Full post as published by Lawbeat on December 14, 2008 (boomark / email).