Missouri Lawmakers - Wisconsin can learn from them

Contrast Nebraska Kissing Bill to Missouri Lawmakers' Work

Nebraska State Sen. Bill Avery is dropping his attempt to make unwanted kissing a sex crime. Contrast this waste of taxpayer resources on useless grandstanding to the work done by lawmakers in Missouri, who are actually interested in good public safety policy. 

A Missouri Legislative committee recommends removing politically driven hate-mongering from state law regarding the public shaming of former sex offenders. The Report of the Missouri House of Representatives Interim Committee of Criminal Justice (attached below), issued last month, includes this recommendation:

Instead of the current all-encompassing registry, there should be two separate registries. The first would be a law enforcement only registry. This list would be comprised of those offenders who are deemed to have a minimal risk of reoffense.  The goals of this first law enforcement only registry would be to:

 

1. Inform local law enforcement of the offenders living within their jurisdiction; 

2. Allow those offenders determined to have a minimal risk of re-offense to remain productive members of society; 

3. Require the offenders to meet certain requirements, such as registering, periodic check-ins with law enforcement, completion of any required programs or treatment, and not reoffending;

4. Maintain the ability for citizens to access information on sexual offenders in their community upon making a request to law enforcement, as is currently available. The second list would be a publicly accessible sexual offender registry.  It would consist of the more severe and ongoing threats to society and would provide the public access to information regarding these offenders, including their name, location, and crime convicted of, among other information.

By including on the public registry only those offenders who have been determined to be most likely to re-offend and who may pose a significant threat to society, it allows the public sexual offender registry to regain its original purpose of being an effective and useful public notification tool.

 

Missouri Criminal Justice Report - SORN Dec 2011.docx

This is something that is great to send to our representatives as a guideline of what is really best for public safety as well as the reintegration and rehabilitation of offenders here in Wisconsin.