Posted on 02/27/2002 9:12:31 AM PST by Gun142
Sex offenders would be charged a fee when they register with county sheriffs' offices under a bill introduced yesterday by a local lawmaker.
The bill is aimed at recouping the costs for local law enforcement authorities to enforce the state's Megan's Law, which requires those convicted of sex offenses -- and labeled sex offenders -- to register with the sheriff's office in the county where they live.
``Sheriffs' offices may not be able to keep up with this without a revenue stream,'' said Sen. Kevin Coughlin, R-Cuyahoga Falls, the bill's sponsor.
Coughlin introduced the bill at the request of Summit County Sheriff Drew Alexander, who complained about the rising cost of enforcing Megan's law. Alexander estimates his office spends about $60,000 a year to keep a registry of the offenders.
Under Coughlin's bill, sexual predators -- the most serious designation for sexual offenders -- would pay a $100 annual fee. All other sexual offenders would be charged $50 a year.
The fee would be waived for those who prove they are unable to pay it. Sheriffs' offices would have the option of setting up payment plans or not charging the fee if they think the money is not needed.
But Alexander said the extra money is definitely needed in Summit County, which has about 450 registered sexual offenders, including 35 sexual predators. A list of the registered offenders is maintained on the sheriff's office's Web site.
Alexander said the number of registered offenders will continue to grow as those sentenced under Megan's Law are released from prison. The sheriff's office is now required to keep track of juvenile sex offenders as well as adults.
``We are stretching our personnel to the max,'' he said. ``We have people working on this who are assigned to other jobs.''
Sheriffs' offices must pay for fingerprinting, photographs and postage. They also have to dedicate employees to type the registration information, do door-to-door notifications and investigate when sex offenders fail to register.
Summit County sheriff's officials soon hope to start a special unit dedicated to enforcing Megan's Law. They are working with Summit County Council members on legislation that would charge Summit County Jail inmates a ``pay-to-stay'' fee. The fee would then be used for a sexual offender unit, made up of three detectives.
``We think it is critical for law enforcement to properly monitor this offender group,'' said Assistant Summit County Sheriff Larry Givens.
It may depend on whether the fee is considered punishment or not.
Since it's not [technically] a fine and can be waived for those unable to pay, I can see how it's not a new punishment.
There was a bill filed in Washington State this year to do much the same thing, to fund a state website. I don't know what happened but those provisions, which as I recall allowed jail time for failure to pay, disappeared from the bill in committee. (I think Justice & Corrections, but frankly I don't recall.) See http://leg.wa.gov for details.
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