Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry Act; public dissemination. (HB628)

Based on the sole decision of Virginia State Police, Virginia is one of only six states that discriminate against both employers and employees by posting employer name and address on public registries. This bill codifies that decision which punishes both employers and employees. We are not aware of any instance in which that information has enhanced public safety. If it were the case, the vast majority of states would publish the information. The facts are that:

1. Twenty-nine states promote a business-friendly environment by not publishing employment information on their public sex offender registries.
2. There is no empirical evidence that publishing places of employment on the public sex offender registry prevents sex crimes or increases public safety.
3. Employers hiring registrants understand that stability reduces the potential for re-offense. The practice of listing employment information on the public registry is counterproductive to reentry and hampers the ability of those who are required to register to find and maintain gainful employment. An isolated, unemployed, and homeless sex offender clearly presents a greater risk to the public than one who is working full time and has a place to live.
4. Research has consistently shown that stability and support increase the likelihood of successful reintegration for offenders of all criminal categories, not the least of which are sexual offenders.
5. Registrants are already prohibited from being in proximity to children under Code of Virginia § 18.2-370.2 through § 18.2-370.5. Automatic notification for businesses providing services to children is available under § 9.1-914.
6. In the last 15 years, 122 citizens publicly identified as registrants were killed or murdered in the United States. The Commonwealth can reduce the potential for workplace violence by joining the majority of other states that do not publicly display registrant employer information.
7. There is no clear public interest in the registry generally and certainly not in employer information. The Commonwealth indicated in a recent report that less than 11% of Virginia’s population had accessed the online registry in the past year.

I'm very confident that this Bill came at the request of the Virginia State Police to counter SB11.

The VSP Registry ALREADY lists the Employer information online so why include it in HB628 as if its a new proposal?

Because when the VSP added the Employer info online back in 2006 or 2007 they did so without ANY Legislative oversight (as I stated in the comment section of SB11)and that's a serious problem!

This Bill is an attempt to "fix" that SIGNIFICANT overreach that flew under the radar years ago and so Institutes of Higher Education have been included in this Bill so the argument "we already do this" won't kill it in the first Committee hearing.

This Bill is a CYA for the VSP for an action that should NEVER have occurred, that I have continued to raise for years and in no way should it be reaffirmed in 2016 with the passing of this Bill!

This Bill was "tabled" on Feb 3rd in Criminal-Sub under the claim to be later "rolled into" HB177. So the public thinks HB628 is dead.

Now this Bill is on the Criminal-Sub docket for Feb 10th.

These kind of "Legislative Games" are being played at the publics expense and it's truly unacceptable! But because it's happening with Sex Offender Bills no one really cares.