Wednesday, April 12, 2000
Megan's laws start to take effect
Police agencies support them, despite burdens
BY Jane Prendergast
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Megan Kanka
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FLORENCE — The school bus travels down Grand Avenue every weekday morning and afternoon, passing by the old stop where kids used to congregate and wait.
Now the driver stops at every house, letting children on and off as close to their front doors as possible. It's the best way school officials say they can guarantee the children's safety from a convicted molester who lives on that street.
Parents clamored for the bus stop change when they were told, as required by Kentucky law, that a man judged a high-risk sex offender lives nearby.
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MEGAN'S LAWS
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Each state's version of Megan's law varies. In Kentucky and Ohio, sex offenders are assessed by the risk that they may strike again. They are put in one of three levels of risk:
• In Ohio: www.drc.ohio.gov
“Sexual predators,” the worst of three levels of risk for reoffending, must re-register every 90 days — for life — in the county where they live. The next category, “habitual offenders,” must register every year for 20 years, but “sexual-oriented offenders” register annually for 10 years. Written notice of predators and some habitual offenders is sent to police, neighbors and schools.
• In Kentucky: The sex offender registry is coming to the Kentucky State Police Web site.
Now, all offenders must register annually for 10 years, regardless of their assessed levels of risk. Information about those designated most likely to reoffend goes to neighbors. Information on those deemed least likely to commit another sex offense goes only to the sheriff's department in the county where the offender moves.
• In Indiana: www.ai.org/cji/html/sexoffender.html
“Sexual predators” register annually until a judge says they can stop. Others must register every year for 10 years. Written notification goes to schools, state agencies dealing with children and day-care facilities. Information is available to the public upon request.
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“I found out there was going to be a sex offender living on our street when the TV reporters came the day he was released,” said parent Debbie Daly, who lives on Grand Avenue where the bus stop is ignored now. “It's nice that they drop the kids off now. I know a lot of people are happy with that.”
The bus stop change is a small example of the practical effects of sex offender notification rules in Tristate communities.
Generally, law enforcement officials and children's advocates applaud sex offender laws, saying media attention to convicted offenders and children's safety helps make parents more aware of the potential for danger and better able to protect their kids.
But the recent laws have generated unforeseen problems:
Defense lawyers continue challenging the laws in court as unfair and unconstitutional.
Neighbors who are notified often clamor for more information and better protection.
The laws impose sometimes costly burdens on sher iff's departments, which must track sex offenders on annually, or, in Ohio, quarterly.
In Kentucky on Tuesday, Gov. Paul Patton signed legislation to put all sex offenders on a Web site maintained by Kentucky State Police. That will take some of the burden of notification off sheriffs.
![[photo]](/editions/2000/04/12/bus180x119.jpg)
Boone County Sheriff Mike Helmig worked to change a bus route when a sex offender moved to Florence.
(Patrick Reddy photo)
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Sex offender registration and notification laws are a few years old in most states. They are called Megan's Laws, for a 7-year-old New Jersey girl, Megan Kanka, who was raped and killed in 1994 by a neighbor who was a convicted sex offender.
The ensuing neighborhood outrage prompted federal officials to require states to start registration programs or lose access to federal grants. Now, every state has a law requiring sex offenders to register with authorities when they are released from prison.
Some laws are tougher than others. In Ohio, offenders judged most likely to re-offend must be re-registered, photographed and fingerprinted every 90 days.
Ohio's sex offender notification started in 1997. Kentucky was among the last in the country to enact a Megan's law. The commonwealth's version just passed its first birthday.
Now registered in the Tristate: more than 500 convicted sex offenders and predators. And the number keeps growing.
How big the list will be isn't yet known. The FBI is starting to compile a national database, but hasn't finished it yet. Some estimates put the number at more than 500,000. The state of California alone has 75,000 registered. That's up from zero five years ago, when the first Megan's laws went into effect.
Washington specifies only that such convicts register with law enforcement. It does not dictate how that informa tion should be used to notify those in the community most likely to be affected.
Often, notice doesn't suffice. Neighbors of the child molester in Florence, for instance, wanted more. They demanded protection for their children. The sheriff and school officials listened, and changed the bus route.
Lack of a single national mandate for sex offender notification means individual municipalities can tinker with the process.
For instance, some Northern Kentucky sheriff's deputies take the extra step of going door-to-door to tell neighbors about an offender's plans to move nearby. Some Ohio counties, including Hamilton and Warren, have put offenders' names, faces and addresses on their Web sites.
“It's our responsibility to help people protect their children,” said Boone Sheriff Mike Helmig. “We should be doing that however we can.”
Defense attorneys continue to challenge the notification provisions as unfair and unconstitutional because they extend punishment beyond the prison sentence.
Scott Greenwood, a Cincinnati civil-rights lawyer, said the notification parts of the laws invite vigilantism. The political popularity of the laws, however, makes them very difficult to challenge, he said.
“All you have to do is put the words sex and children together and you can pass any law,” he said.
Also under fire are the ways states determine the risk that a sex offender will offend again. Judges make that determination, taking recommendations from the prison system to decide if an offender is at a low, moderate or high risk.
Boone Circuit Judge Jay Bamberger questions Kentucky's assessment system because prison evaluations have made an inmate “sound like Jack the Ripper” but rated the convict a low or moderate risk.
Judge Bamberger acknowledged that he rates as many offenders as possible at the highest risk level because lower ratings have fewer requirements for registering and offer less information to the public.
With some offenders mandated to register for life and more getting out of prison, the numbers of convicts who must be scrutinized post-prison will continue to grow.
Last year, Hamilton County deputies registered or re-registered people more than 500 times — an increase of more than 160 percent from the year before. Because Ohio law requires new photographs and fingerprints of the worst offenders every 90 days for life, the workload can pile up.
“Someday, it's going to get to where we can't do it all,” said Steve Barnett, a spokesman for the sheriff.
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