In many (probably most) states only those who have been convicted of sex offenses against children are listed. The following excerpts are from an article in the Manchester Union Leader in New Hampshire it indicates that 1/3rd are guilty of sexual crimes against children:
Manchester Union Leader 3/26/05
Sexual offender list here growing
By Sunday News Staff
The list of convicted sexual offenders who reside or work in New Hampshire currently has 3,092 names and is lengthening at a rate of about 8 percent a year, according to Lt. Brian L. Hester, who has oversight of the register maintained by the state police.
The roster is expanding, Hester said, because offenders convicted years ago are added to it as they are released from prison, and because offenders relocate to New Hampshire from other states or reside in neighboring states but work here.
About two-thirds of the sexual offenders committed crimes against adults and the information about them in the register is restricted to law enforcement use, but the register also includes 1,138 people convicted of sexual crimes against children. Their identities are available to the public.
Where are they?
Arrest warrants are outstanding for 74 sexual offenders delinquent in their responsibility to register. Under the public disclosure provision of the law, their names and last known addresses are posted on the State Police Web site. (See
http://www.state.nh.us/safety/warrants.pdf.)
The warrant-posting law prohibits the release of details, but in some cases, where the offender who failed to register was convicted of a crime involving a child, additional information may be available in the public register of child sexual offenders.
Some are facing misdemeanor charges, a few are felonies, Hester said of those being sought for failure to register.
The warrant would surface if an offender brushed up against the law on another matter, such as a police stop for a motor vehicle violation.
Why wait around?
But Rep. Karl Gilbert, R-Newmarket, is concerned that waiting for the offender who evades registration to make another mistake may not be good enough. He has had discussions with some of his colleagues in the House.
Were talking about taking a look at tightening up the system as best we can to track these people who havent registered, Gilbert said. We dont learn about these people until one slips through the cracks and does something, like the guy in Florida did. . .
We could look at requiring them to register more often, perhaps every six months, but Im more concerned about the people who dont register, about actively having a team looking for these people and not waiting until something happens, said Gilbert, who has worked more than 30 years in law enforcement and is a former police chief of Greenland.
Keeping tabs
The pro-active approach is already the rule in Manchester, where detective Scott Fuller monitors the sexual offender population. The states largest city is home to about 375 offenders who are required to register, including 203 individuals whose names are on the publicly-available register of offenders convicted of sexual crimes against children.
Weve seen a reduction in the number of offenders living in Manchester over the past two years. We attribute that to strict enforcement. The word has gone out that one day late in registering equals an arrest warrant, Fuller said.
He tries to keep tabs on the very transient sexual offender population by mailing a registration reminder about a month before the persons birth date. If a reminder card comes back as undeliverable, officers check the address to see if the offender has moved without reporting.
Last year, we found that about 16 percent violated and we actively pursued them, Fuller said.
Warrants are issued and the offenders who have been located are arrested and have been successfully prosecuted, he said.
13-month gap
Annual registration, however, leaves a very large loophole.
An offender can register an address on his birthday, for example, and then move out the next day. That opens a 13-month window before his failure to reregister alerts police to his departure.
One way that we are looking at to combat this problem would be to have two-man teams go out and check the addresses A to Z three or four times a year, Fuller said.
The states sexual offender registration law has evolved gradually over the past 10 years as lawmakers wrestled with who should be registered, for how long and for which crimes; what police could do with the information; and how much of it should be available to the public.
Photo availability
Rep. Gilbert introduced a measure two years ago an effort to eliminate possible confusion, he said to add photographs of the offenders in the publicly-available child offender register. The process began last year, with photographs being taken at the community police departments when the offenders come in for their annual reregistration.
Manchester Union Leader This article will probably be archived soon.
