Jan 28
1

A Fair Assessment of Sex Offender Registration in Arkansas

Posted by: kgodin    Tags:      Posted date:  January 28, 2012



On Wednesday, the Arkansas Times did a cover story on the state’s sex offender registry system. The article starts by dispelling the image most people associate with the label “sex offender.” As David Koon notes, it is inaccurate and stigmatizing to associate all sex offenders to the image of a “greasy-haired pervert cruising playgrounds in a panel van with a bag of candy on the seat beside him.”

Of the 11,268 registered sex offenders in Arkansas, there are those who range from child molesters, to rapists, to streakers, to prostitutes, to Peeping Toms, to those who’ve knowingly infected their sexual partners with HIV, to those who have sex with animals, and finally, even one offender who likes to have sex with the umbrella holes in picnic tables.

The term “sex offender” isn’t a one-size-fits-all label, although the effects of the label tend to be uniform. Offenders have incredible difficulties finding employment, housing and even social support systems. While each registered sex offender is assigned a level (from 1 to 4) depending on their level of risk to the community, the general public usually isn’t educated into understanding the difference.

An employee at the Arkansas Department of Correction’s Sex Offender Screening and Risk Assessment (“SOSRA”) program explains why it is important to properly assess each offender before assigning him or her a risk level. One offender she assessed would have been classified under the Adam Walsh Act as a Tier 1 (least serious) offender based upon the type of crime he was convicted of. However, after conducting SOSRA’s evaluation of the same offender, the employee was able to uncover the fact that this offender had actually molested at least 40 children (boys and girls) since he was 7 years old, and had done so because he had an attraction to their “vulnerability and innocence.”

Impressively, Arkansas seems to have a fairly extensive evaluation process in assigning sex offenders risk levels (more so than many other states, and a vast difference from the federal system under the Adam Walsh Act). Those who refuse to participate in the evaluation are given a default level of 3, and all offenders can move for a re-classification after five years on the registry.

The article also describes “Arkansas Time After Time,” a support group for sex offenders and their families. Started by a registered sex offender, the group’s founder notes that advocating for sex offenders is like “being an advocate for Ebola.” The group has helped at least some offenders to feel like there are others who understand their situation, and to help them not feel so isolated in the community.

SOSRA points out that nothing beats parents doing what they can to keep their children safe. Parents need to have open communication with their children, and be involved in their kids’ lives enough to know who they are spending time with.

Sadly, as Attorney Godin has argued time and time again, this article cites research showing that strict residency restrictions on sex offenders may actually lead to more offending. Offenders who end up homeless because they have no place to go will then have little incentive not to re-offend. They lose their support system, their income and their housing, and are left to wander the streets. Furthermore, when sex offenders become homeless, they are actually harder to keep tabs on because their whereabouts are usually unknown.

The article calls the effectiveness of sex offender registration and residency restrictions into question, especially given the original purpose of these laws.

What do you think of these laws?

At The Law Office of Katherine Godin, Inc., the law firm proudly represents sex offenders in Rhode Island and Massachusetts in their criminal cases, appeals, sex offender classification hearings and appeals, and in fighting against unconstitutional provisions of the states’ registration, community notification and community supervision laws.

Comment for A Fair Assessment of Sex Offender Registration in Arkansas

Nanda

I agree while there are many non violent, plbraoby shouldn’t even be in jail inmates serving out full and extreme sentences, child molesters and rapists get off far too easy.While there are grey areas (such as 2 drunk teenagers, both unsure of what the other’s wants or intentions are, for example), in the majority of cases of sexual assault or pedophiles there is NO excuse for re introducing someone like that into society. It’s a danger to the innocent people they’ll be coming in contact with.Island surrounded by shark infested waters sounds wonderful to me but then again, so does castration.Just a pet peeve (to put it mildly) of mine. They obviously couldn’t or wouldn’t control themselves before, what makes us believe that they’ve actually changed, given the recidivism rates of molesters and rapists? It’s time to open our eyes and realize that some crimes besides murder DO deserve life sentences.Once they commit that crime, I believe it’s no longer about THEIR rights it then becomes about the victim’s rights. And THAT is what’s important.

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