Offender Legislation Approved Access To Ex-Convict Registry Stirs Fears Of Vigilantism
The Idaho Senate voted overwhelmingly on Thursday for easier public access to information on the statewide sex offender registration list.
With its 32-2 vote, the Senate emphasized that protection of potential victims far outweighs concern for former offenders’ rights.
The bill, sent to the House, also creates a special board to determine whether convicted sex offenders should be classified as violent sexual predators who must register every 90 days with authorities as long as they remain in Idaho.
Republican Sen. Gordon Crow of Hayden said the legislation, which conforms Idaho’s law to federal requirements, assures that “my rights to protect my family are at least equal to those of the violent predatory sexual offender.”
Critics claim the measure goes too far and will foster vigilantism against ex-convicts who already have served their sentences.
Another bill creating a similar registration system for juvenile sexual offenders still is awaiting Senate action.
Failure to comply with federal mandates on adult sex offender registration could cost the state $300,000.
Since the state created its adult sex offender register in 1993, 1,700 released felons have been required to sign - 160 of them convicted of violent sex crimes.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Denton Darrington, R-Declo, said about 10 percent of those convicted of violent crimes likely would be designated as violent sexual predators by the special board created to evaluate offenders.
Other offenders can have their names removed from the register 10 years after they were released from prison if they can prove to a judge they no longer are a threat to reoffend. That irked the American Civil Liberties Union, which claimed it turns America’s innocent-until-proved-guilty justice system on its head.
Advocates of the registry also failed to respond to critics who suggested that if a public registry of sex offenders is such a good idea, registries should be created for murderers or other violent criminals.
“If I’ve got an alcoholic living next to me, I think I’d like to know that,” Republican Sen. Cecil Ingram of Boise said. “If we’ve got somebody with a problem with theft, I think I’d like to know. Maybe I’d take in my hose at night or my sprinkler. … The fact is: How long are we going to persecute?”
Conservative Republican Stan Hawkins of Ucon called the legislation nothing but “a political response, and frankly, I think people will re-elect you if you vote for this bill. But we’re not solving the problem, and we’re not protecting the public.”
While advocates said easy access to the names on the register is crucial to people protecting themselves and their families, they offered no examples of what could be done beyond picketing outside an offender’s home. The bill specifically prohibits use of the register to promote vigilantism.
But Darrington asked his colleagues just before the vote, “Would you like to know in advance that one of those sexual predators would be in the neighborhood if your child was a potential victim of that crime?
“Would you like to protect your child?”
xxxx MEETING Coeur d’Alene Prosecutors and school officials are planning a public meeting Saturday to discuss sex offender legislation. The meeting will run from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. at Lake City Senior Center, 1916 N. Lakewood Drive. Coeur d’Alene School District Superintendent David Rawls, Hayden Meadows Elementary School Principal Keith Jones and representatives from the Kootenai County prosecutor’s office are among the scheduled speakers.