Reform the Sex Offender Registry

  • by: Don Campbell
  • recipient: Michigan State Senators and Legislators.
It is a horrifying burden to never finish your punishment! The sex offender registry, in its current form, subjects thousand of ex-offenders (and their families) to unemployment, difficulties with housing, harassment, rejection, severe anxiety and depression, hopelessness, suicide and numerous other problems. At the same time, the registry fails to protect the public or reduce crime. Most persons listed on it are not a danger to the public, despite all the fear, panic, and myths related to sex offenders. Not a single major expert who has done objective studies of sex offenders or the registry support it as having significant value in terms of protecting the public or contributing to reducing crime. This petition highlights the importance of changing the law in seven (7) major ways to end the systematic oppression of persons who appear on it and to give the registry at least some degree of utility:

1. The registry should no longer be public; rather, it should only be available to law enforcement professionals. This will help put an end to rejection, harassment, prejudice, discrimination and violence against ex-offenders in the community.
2. So-called school safety zones restricting residency and work should be completely eliminated, because they are extremely difficult if not impossible to comply with, they cause severe collateral damage in terms of lost employment and housing, they fail to serve any constructive purpose in terms of protecting children and they are unconstitutional according to a recent federal court decision.
3. The requirement of listing work locations, school locations, volunteer locations, passports, licenses, phones, e-mails, vehicles, etc. should be eliminate because they fail to protect the public and are almost impossible to comply with and cause collateral damage.
4. Tiers should be based on valid, objective risk assessments, not offense categories (which are very misleading and inaccurate). That way, only truly high-risk persons on the registry will be identified as such.
5. Persons on Tier I and II should have to register once a year, and Tier III every 6 months. This is because the higher frequency of registration has never been shown to reduce crime.
6. All persons on the registry should have the right to be removed from it after 3, 5 or 7 (based on tier level), if they remain crime-free and comply with registration requirements.
7. The severe criminal sanctions for failing to comply with the registry should be eliminated, and replaced with civil fines, similar to a driving infraction, which objectively is far more dangerous than the oversight of listing hair color or address. This will end the cycle of useless punishment or re-incarcerating persons who make an honest mistake and those who are truly overwhelmed by the registry requirements.

These reforms would enable thousands of persons to reintegrate into the community after serving their time, and make the community much safer by limiting the registry only to mostly person who are objectively high-risk for re-offense. These changes are highly supported by all the major studies and experts who have studied the registry over the past twenty years.
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