Sex offenders and the city states: the AWA’s many (trivial?) pursuits
Both Sex Crimes and Sex Offender Issues have posts spotlighting what a mess the new federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act is starting to make in the states. This strong article from Stateline.org, headlined “Will states say ‘no’ to Adam Walsh Act?” provides this essential background:
Facing a 2009 deadline to comply with a controversial federal law intended to crack down on sex offenders, states are nearing a crossroads. They either must fall in line with the statute or ignore it and absorb the penalty — a 10-percent cut to their share of funds in a congressional grant program used to fight crime.
With most state legislatures reconvening this month, debate is likely to resume soon over the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, which President Bush signed in 2006…. For months, however, state legislators across the country have criticized the law as a “one-size-fits-all approach” that does not give states enough time, money or flexibility to make the changes sought by the federal government….
[S]tate lawmakers are questioning whether it makes sense to comply with the act by its 2009 deadline, if at all, said Donna Lyons, a criminal justice analyst with the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), an alliance representing the nation’s state legislators. The organization recently released a policy statement — approved unanimously by more than 7,000 state lawmakers — seeking congressional amendments to revise the act….
States use Byrne grants to pay for drug task forces, anti-gang units, police overtime and other law enforcement activities. But funding for the grant program itself was slashed by 67 percent — from $520 million last fiscal year to $170 million this year — in a $555 billion appropriations bill signed by Bush last month. That deep cut has figured into state lawmakers’ thinking as they compare the costs of complying with the Adam Walsh Act with the costs of not complying, said Susan Parnas Frederick, senior committee director of NCSL’s Law and Criminal Justice Committee in Washington. “What’s 10 percent of nothing, anyway? Maybe we’ll just do what we’re doing, lose the 10 percent and not have to deal with all this garbage,” Frederick said.
At least six states — Delaware, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada and Ohio — last year revised sex-offender laws in an effort to comply with the act. The Justice Department rejected Louisiana’s efforts as not enough, and has yet to rule on the other states’ laws, many of which went into effect Jan. 1.
Meanwhile, while some state legislatures try to figure out if the Adam Walsh Act sex offender game is worth the Byrne grant candle, state judges having to deal with new state legislation are already up in arms. Consider this report from a Cleveland Plain Dealer article today:
Summit County judges will join their counterparts in at least four other Ohio counties in refusing to enforce provisions of the state’s new, tougher sex-offender registration law. The eight judges of Summit’s general trial division will act this week to either issue a stay to block all of the affected cases from moving forward or issue a preliminary injunction in each case they hear. At issue are a host of potential contradictions and constitutional questions arising from the state legislature’s attempt to comply with the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act….
There have been 80 challenges to the law filed in the past week in Summit County…. In Cuyahoga County, about 300 sex offenders have filed civil suits challenging their re-reclassification…
[Summit County Common Pleas Judge Elinore Marsh] Stormer said the problem is compounded because the legislature moved quickly, without consulting the sheriffs, prosecutors, judges and other state and county officials who would have to implement the new law. “While the intent was to retain federal grant money underwriting many criminal justice programs, we have no idea how much it’s going to cost to administer the new program, and to address the legal challenges,” Stormer said.