Thursday, December 15, 2005

Sex Offender Loophole

Sex offenders in the Pacific Northwest have found a loophole to avoid registering with law enforcement. They simply say they're homeless -- and there's no record of their address.

The Seattle Times analyzed court records, sex offender registries and check-in logs.

They found hundreds of sex offenders registering as homeless. That makes it impossible for police to track them:

"Authorities say that out of every 10 sex offenders who report they are
homeless, two or three are actually living in a neighborhood at a particular
address."


The number's higher in King County where one-third of the high-risk sex felons fill out forms saying they're homeless. (Seattle Times/IRE)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

they could be arrested for failure to register which is a felony.
but again they can say they are "visiting"
for more information on this subject

http://www.geocities.com/eadvocate/issues/

Anonymous said...

they could be arrested for failure to register which is a felony.
but again they can say they are "visiting"
for more information on this subject

http://www.geocities.com/eadvocate/issues/

Tex said...

How do you find them if you catch them lying?

It seems very easy to list a false address or no address at all.

And how do you enforce it?

Used to date a woman who was in charge of her county's child support enforcement office. She said it was relatively easy to find deadbeat dads -- but it was like pulling crocodile teeth getting the Sheriff's office to actually go out and enforce orders.

And the big question is -- if this was only reported on in Washington state -- where else is it happening?

It's going to take citizen/voter calls to the Sheriff to get things happening.

Anonymous said...

This is absolutely ridiculous. They might as well bring on the ankle cuff sex offender locators if all they have to do is say they are homeless. I found out there were 28 offenders within a few miles of my home and that's just the "registered" ones... ughh.

Did anyone see this "juvenile loophole" for juvenile sex offenders? I found the article on Sex Offenders Report
If the link does not work just go here...
http://www.sexoffendersreport.com/archives/-sex-offender-news-legal-loophole-keeps-juvenile-sex-offenders-anonymous-press-sunbulletin.php

I'm flabberghasted...