Public Defense

Happy 10th Birthday, Sex Offender Registry!

By Gideon

Connecticut’s sex offender registry has turned 10. Yay.

Along with this 10th anniversary comes the first wave of offenders (lucky enough to be sentenced to only 10 years) who will have their name removed.

By the end of October, 29 names will have been removed. In the next year, 153 names are expected to be purged. As of Tuesday, the list had 5,099 names on it, said Lt. Sam Izzarelli of the Connecticut State Police sex offender registry unit.

The purpose of the 10-year provision is to recognize that ? as disturbing as sexual assaults may be ? not all of the people who commit them are threats to public safety, said state Rep. Michael Lawlor, D- East Haven, co-chairman of the legislature’s judiciary committee.

Along with the immense public safety benefits of the registry have come the minor problems of persecution, homelessness, joblessness and recidivism. Not that there are any studies that evaluate the effectiveness of sex offender registries and sex offender recidivism that should guide us going forward. Just browse the sex offender category here to get an idea.

Ask yourself: are you safer today than you were 10 years ago?

Full post as published by A Public Defender on October 06, 2008 (boomark / email).