Bill Would Permit Posting Facts About Sex Offenders on Internet

Like dozens of other law enforcement agencies throughout the state, the San Jose Police Department had installed computers in each of its stations that listed sex offenders covered by Megan’s Law.

But last year, only 430 people came to check them out, reflecting the statewide decline in the database’s popularity since it debuted with much fanfare in 1997.

That changed in December, when San Jose became the first city in the state to post information about registered sex offenders directly on the Internet. In the first month and a half, the site logged more than 18,000 hits, police officials said. And the number keeps growing.

San Jose could provide a glimpse of the future for the rest of California as lawmakers debate a bill that would allow law enforcement agencies to post information such as names, addresses and photographs of registered sex offenders on the Internet. About 83,000 high-risk and serious sex offenders -- dating to the 1940s -- would find themselves popping up on home computers next Jan. 1.

“If this information helps provide security for one child, it’s well worth it,” said Pat Dando, vice mayor of San Jose and a strong supporter of the bill by Assemblywoman Nicole Parra (D-Hanford) now before the Senate.

San Jose began posting the list after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld the legality of a similar online registry in Alaska last March. Dando said she was frustrated that California had yet to post its sex offenders.

“I thought, if it’s not implemented at the state level, maybe we could start it in individual cities,” she said. “Maybe then we could shame the state into doing their duty.”

Still, critics point out that the registry maintained by the California Department of Justice is far from accurate. The state lacks current addresses for 22,060 convicted sex offenders, about 32% of the total number living in California communities, according to the latest figures from the Department of Justice.

A nationwide study conducted last year by the advocacy group Parents for Megan’s Law found that, on average, states are missing information on about 24% of their sex offenders.

Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg (D-Los Angeles), who was one of two Assembly members to vote against the bill last month when it came before the body, said she questions whether publicizing names on the Internet brings down crime. There have been no conclusive studies of the effect of community notification laws on sex crime rates, researchers said.

“I think it’s feel-good legislation,” Goldberg said. “I don’t think it makes anyone safer.”

Megan’s Law, named in honor of a New Jersey girl abused and killed by a neighbor, was adopted by states across the nation in the late 1990s. It was designed to give the public access to the names and locations of those convicted of the most serious sex crimes.

California decided to keep the databases at police stations. For a while, concerned residents flocked to the computer terminals, but over time, interest waned. That is, until the database hit the Internet.

The popularity of the San Jose website mirrors the results in other states where authorities have posted sex offenders’ names, addresses and photographs.

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Florida Example

In 1997, Florida put information about sexual predators and offenders online and interest exploded, said Mary Coffee, who manages the sex offender and predator unit for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. On average, the site, which lists more than 30,000 sex offenders, sees about half a million searches a month. Only about 5% of the names on the list lack current addresses, she said.

Coffee credited the accuracy to the constant refinements in the state’s ability to link to other governmental databases and to diligent police checks.

Also, she said, residents have helped refine the list by calling in at a rate of about 2,000 times a month to ask questions or supply tips. “The public is the best eyes and ears that law enforcement can ever have,” Coffee said.

Since 1997, several Florida neighborhoods have held protests in front of offenders’ houses or stuck angry signs on their own lawns. Five years ago, someone twice set fire to the house of a sexual offender in Hillsborough County in attempts to drive him out of the neighborhood.

“I have heard of nothing directly related to the information on the registry,” Coffee said. She said the department strongly opposes vigilante action. The online registry “is a tool for people to use to make decisions to help make their families safe ... not a license to commit any wrongs.”

In Georgia, where 8,000 names are posted, about 830,000 searches were performed just in January, said Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokesman and Web coordinator John Bankhead. Since it was put online in 1998, the sex offender registry has attracted so many page views that it consistently ranks as the state’s second- or third-most popular website. (The lottery always ranks first.)

“We haven’t had any problem with vigilante actions,” Bankhead said. “What we have had a problem with is people claiming a person was on the registry and he wasn’t.” An incident about two years ago turned out to be one neighbor trying to sully the name of another neighbor.

But the database’s accuracy has improved, the Georgia official said. In the early years of the registry, more than 30% of convicted offenders were not registering. But since two years ago, when the state Legislature made failure to register a felony, the rate has dropped to 20%.

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Benefits Touted

Despite such difficulties, California Assemblywoman Parra insisted that the benefits outweighed the risks. “Would the public rather have no information or some information?” Parra asked.

Still, she added, “We have to look at ways to clean up the list.”

A bill by Assemblyman Manny Diaz (D-San Jose), now before the Senate, would help pay for improving the accuracy of the registry. In the last year, California has cleared a large number of dead, incarcerated or deported sex offenders, said Hallye Jordan, spokeswoman for Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer. By checking the state’s sex offender registry with the departments of Health Services, Motor Vehicles and Corrections, and federal Social Security Administration and Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, officials have learned that 3,277 had died, 1,897 were back behind bars and 1,742 had been deported.

Jordan cites September’s Los Angeles County Fair as an example of how an easily accessible sex offender registry can enhance public safety. At the fair, she said, 3,619 people viewed the database at a computer booth. As a result, law enforcement found seven people who had failed to register.

San Jose officials said it is difficult to assess if their online posting has prevented any sex crimes. But, said Sgt. Ron Helder, who heads the sex registration enforcement team, “By having access to more information, they do feel safer.”

But, he added, keeping accurate records on all of the city’s 2,300 sex offenders is difficult, requiring four officers to spend half their days auditing registration records. Last year, the sex registration team cleared 489 names from the database after they verified that the people had died, moved out of state or been deported. They also arrested 85 people who had neglected to register. They are still looking for 44.

Such difficulties have led Helder to resist community requests to go beyond the 26 highest-risk offenders and put the names of about 1,800 more sex offenders online. Helder said he had reservations. “These guys are so fluid -- moving all the time,” he said. “I don’t want to put information that isn’t accurate out to the public.”

But Helder said the community has dealt responsibly with the information so far. No one has committed any vigilante acts against the 26 men since the offender list was put on the Internet, he said.