DOJ loosens requirements for sex offender registry changes

As Michigan and 48 other states struggle to comply with the mandates of the Adam Walsh Act, the U.S. Department of Justice is revising some of the implementation guidelines for that law to help the states find equitable ways to do so.

The Adam Walsh Act was passed by Congress in 2006 and gave the states until July of this year to make a number of changes to the way they handled their sex offender registries; it they failed to do so, they could lose hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid. But after years of complaints about the mandated changes, the DOJ has proposed new guidelines to loosen some of those requirements, Stateline reports:

As Stateline has reported, however, many states disagree with key provisions of the law that they see as too strict, including a stipulation that some juvenile sex offenders as young as 14 be placed on public registries. In Delaware, as the Wilmington News-Journal recently reported, some offenders as young as 9 are listed on the public sex offender Web site. Youth advocates and others have said that posting images and personal information of juveniles can lead to harassment, and that juveniles should not be grouped with more serious, adult criminals.

The changes proposed Friday give states the discretion to decide if they want to include juveniles on their registries.

Under another proposed change, sex offenders whose crimes pre-dated the Adam Walsh Act, and who have exited the justice system, would not be forced to abide by its registration requirements. While courts have found the provision constitutional — holding that registration is not a new criminal penalty but a civil, regulatory requirement instead — states have argued that it is overly burdensome to track down and register sex offenders who already have served their time and re-joined the population. The Justice Department recognized that concern, giving states “greater latitude” not to register certain offenders.

Only Ohio has complied with all of the requirements so far, leaving 49 states, including Michigan, in limbo. Our state legislature had planned to address this issue later this year. The DOJ has granted a one-year waiver to all 49 states this year to give them time to implement these new guidelines after a two-month comment period, so that may take the pressure off to get something done soon.

Unfortunately, that also means putting off other meaningful changes. One of the requirements of the Adam Walsh Act is that states create tiers for sexual offenders, grouping them together based on the severity of their crime. That provides the opportunity for the state to address the problem of having people convicted of non-predatory crimes, like Romeo and Juliet relationships, listed next to rapists and pedophiles.