Sex Offender Registry Said Flawed, Inconsistent

March 21, 2005 — -- The abduction and killing of 9-year-old Jessica Marie Lunsford -- allegedly by a convicted sex offender who lived nearby and had failed to register with authorities -- is a grim reminder of the flaws in the country's tracking system, victims' advocates say.

John Evander Couey, 46, was formally charged today with capital murder in the abduction and death by asphyxiation of Jessica. He had failed to register his change of address as required for a sex offender, authorities say.

There are more than 400,000 registered sex offenders in the United States -- convicted criminals whose fingerprints, names and addresses have been recorded on official lists. But victims' advocates say almost 25 percent of them have slipped through the cracks, and authorities no longer know where they live.

"The problem is sex offenders are responsible for their own compliance," said Donna Coleman, president of Children's Advocacy Alliance. "So you have felons that are responsible for complying to register, which is crazy because they're not exactly your top-notch citizens."

States have required sex offenders to register since 1996, when Congress passed Megan's Law -- named after 7-year-old Megan Kanka, who was raped and murdered by a twice-convicted child molester who lived across the street.

But even with the legislation, every state is free to decide which criminals must be registered and how much personal information will be made publicly available. Some states actively distribute the names while others require public inquiries.

States' methods for tracking known offenders also vary. Some conduct periodic searches of registered addresses while others require offenders to submit to polygraphs as part of their parole.