Pennsylvania to post personal information on sex offenders

[Kate]

Any other states that do this?

CNN.com article

Pennsylvania to post personal information on sex offenders
New law will place data on more than 7,000 people online

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Gov. Ed Rendell has signed a law allowing photographs and personal information on more than 7,000 registered sex offenders to be posted on the Internet within six months.

Pennsylvania's current database provides information on just 57 sexual offenders and is available to the public only by e-mail request.

The new law, which Rendell signed Wednesday, calls for a site listing the name, city, county, zip code and picture of every registrant. Street addresses will be posted for the most serious offenders, classified as "sexually violent predators."

Police will continue to notify neighbors when sexually violent predators move into their communities. Earlier this year, the state auditor said community notifications in Pennsylvania were often inaccurate, late and ineffective.

"The system was broke, and we weren't getting the right information where it belonged," Rendell said.

Opponents of the expanded Web postings said the law will hurt efforts to rehabilitate convicted sex offenders and likely set off a new wave of court challenges.

"We are making it ... more difficult for people who have served prison time to go back to a community, get jobs, connect with their families," said Larry Frankel of the Pennsylvania chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

[dwf]

I believe WA state was the first one to do this, but could be wrong about that. (?)

Convicted sex offenders are listed in one of three categories (I, II, III) depending on perceived recidivisim probability. This determination is based on many different factors, but the long and short of it is the communities that those most likely to re-offend (Level III) are planning to live in are notified in newspapers, circulars, schools are notified, etc. Levels I and II are required to notify the local Sheriff's Office regarding address and place of employment but there is no public announcement. Each County Sheriff has a fair amount of latitude on how far and wide the announcements go and can also adjust the status of the offender if they see fit.

Level's II and III are required to do this for the rest of their lives (I think...it's a confusing statute), Level I offenders are required to register for 10 years with the requirement being dropped if there are no criminal violations during that time (doesn't happen very often).

[tpd_six]

My state posts tons of information on them. Name, date of birth, physical description, address, pictures, crimes they were convicted of, conviction dates, types of victims/targets, even their vehicles.

[Norm357]

See any states pervert registry at www.searchsystems.net. One of the greatest sites on the net.

[Johninaustin]

What took you guys so long?

[ChesCopPodz]

VA does it.

[ObMax1212]

NY does.

[samseed101]

we've been doing that here. We have their name, photo, and address posted on a website, as well as a list of any charges (if they were found guilty)

[scott715us]

TN does as well. You can find out how many are in your zip code. Pretty cool stuff. Link below. ;)

http://www.ticic.state.tn.us/SEX_ofndr/search_short.asp

[Kate]

TN does as well. You can find out how many are in your zip code. Pretty cool stuff. Link below. ;)

http://www.ticic.state.tn.us/SEX_ofndr/search_short.asp

My mother lives in a small town in TN. I just checked the zip and there are THREE sex offenders in Benton, two of them on the same street. WTF?

[sbrad]

My mother lives in a small town in TN. I just checked the zip and there are THREE sex offenders in Benton, two of them on the same street. WTF?

Welcome to Polk County. I used to live near there. There are ALOT of them.

[mcsap]

Must be the brand of moonshine they be drinking

[k9neptune]

Maryland posts some basic info about sex offenders on the NET. Another decent website that details each state is www.crimetime.com/SPguide.htm. BTW, does anybody's state actually have a restriction code that they put on a sex offenders driver's license thereby indicating that the person is a sex offender? This is REAL handy if you stop someone from that state because you can immediately know what's going on without having to run a criminal history. I know DE does, but MD does not.

[Chgojock007]

Street addresses will be posted for the most serious offenders, classified as "sexually violent predators."

Street addresses for all of the offenders should be posted! It's not like one offender is less sick, violent or guilty than another offender. They should all be exposed with no privacy.

[Dayna36]

Amen!