The Legislature totters toward "Improvement"

There are some legislators who understand the need for changing the SORNA system but I fear the politics of being "soft" on sex offenders will sink any efforts at meaningful reform.

From the Kennebec Journal:

The Committee on Criminal Justice & Public Safety met Monday at the Department of Public Safety offices in Augusta for a briefing on Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.

In the second of three informational meetings, the panel heard from Bumby as well as from officials in four other states where policymakers have grappled with similar issues.

"We either reinvent the wheel or take a day and bring in the experts," Sen. Bill Diamond, D-Windham, said. "This should enhance the effectiveness of what we're trying to do."

Diamond, Senate chairman of the committee, said the committee is dealing with three issues:

* legal challenges of Maine's retroactive registration requirement filed by sex offenders;

* the federal Adam Walsh Act, which is aimed at expanding the national sex offender registry and keeping track of sex offenders no matter which state they live in, while increasing penalties for crimes against children; and

* a tiered system to classify offenders based on offense or risk to reoffend or both.

"We have our hands full," Diamond said.

Comments

[Gallowsman]

This should make it even more interesting for Maine's AG.

http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=9171847&nav=menu102_2

New Sex Offender Laws Unconstitutional

Nevada's tough new sex offender laws have been deemed unconstitutional.

A recent order issued in federal court strikes down the law that would've classified sex offenders by crime instead of by risk to re-offend.
...