Mo. bill would change sex offender registrations

Thursday, February 16, 2012

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri House member wants the state to change who is listed in its sex offender registry and what information is available about them.

A bill sponsored by Republican Rodney Schad, of Versailles (vur-SAYLZ’), would exempt people from registering if they have been convicted of some non-contact offenses, such as indecent exposure. Only the names and information of people convicted of the most serious sex crimes would be listed on a state website.

The website would not include the school and work and addresses of adult sex offenders, nor any information about juvenile offenders.

About 12,000 people are currently on Missouri’s active sex offender registry. Schad says the current format makes it difficult to tell which offenders pose a danger to the public.

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Sex offender bill is HB1700

Online:

Legislature: http://www.moga.mo.gov

More like this story

karaokequeen 1 year, 3 months ago

a perv is a perv is a perv weather it's flashing or touching....register them all!!!!!!

3DMom 1 year, 3 months ago

Unfortunately, indecent exposure also includes someone who urinates outside. If Bubba is out in the woods and needs to "pee" and a park ranger sees him, theoretically he can be charged with indecent exposure. Do you really believe he belongs on the sex offender list?

Sequoia 1 year, 3 months ago

There are also a lot of people registered as "sex offenders" because they were 18 and had sex with a 16- or 17-year-old. I don't think they deserve to be on a registry the rest of their lives.

Another issue is that sex offenders never have a chance to serve their time and move on. Their punishment is for life, which also doesn't seem fair in some cases.

Finally, there is the problem of managing a huge list. If the registry is too long, authorities can't keep track of truly dangerous individuals.

The problem is that politicians try to make a name for themselves by getting "tough" on crime, and they get elected by people like karakoqueen, who have the attitude (understandable but simplistic and emotional) you see above. Law after law after law pile up until the system is overly complex and counterproductive.

gofish 1 year, 3 months ago

I would be more interested in knowing if having a registry is helpful in any way in preventing future offenses? I suppose it might be helpful to know if your neighbor has a record, but shouldn't I already be supervising my kids to prevent bad things from happening? A lot of money is spent maintaining a registry, but does it accomplish what it's meant to do?

JMO 1 year, 3 months ago

I think it's biggest benefit is to folks who are moving themselves...they can check out the prospective neighbors.

JMO 1 year, 3 months ago

I personally think some details the crime should be displayed if they are going to be on the register. If a man is on there for soliciting a prostitute or peeing in by the side of the road, he isn't necessarily a danger to passing 5 year olds. If he's on there for molesting a little boy, he's not someone I want in my neighborhood, but if someone's 16 year old daughter goes missing, he's probably not a suspect either. If he was 17 and his girlfriend was 15, he simply doesn't belong there.

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