Vermont to Implement New Sex Offender Laws

July 28, 2008— -- MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) -- When a state Senate committee begins deliberating later this summer on how to respond to the kidnap and killing of 12-year-old Brooke Bennett, it also will be under pressure to deal with a new federal law named for another slain child.

The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 establishes new mandates for the way states set up their sex offender registries -- mandates Vermont currently does not meet.

"It will mean some huge changes for Vermont," said Sherry Englert, sex offender registry program coordinator with the Department of Public Safety.

Adam Walsh was 6 when he was abducted from a Florida shopping mall 27 years ago; his body was found 16 days later. No one was ever charged in the abduction and slaying. He became one of a sad gallery of dead children for whom various laws trying to crack down on sex offenders have been named.

State Sen. Richard Sears, D-Bennington and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that meeting the federal requirements could present a new cost to the state "in the millions of dollars." Failing to meet them, on the other hand, will result in some cuts of federal law enforcement grant money.

Sears said the Adam Walsh Act requirements are sure to be part of the discussion when his committee holds hearings later this year on how to respond to the death of Bennett, whose uncle, Michael Jacques of Randolph, has been charged in her abduction.

Vermont currently has about 2,500 sex offenders on its registry, but access to the information is tightly controlled in a system lawmakers designed to take into account the privacy rights of people who've already served their time and in the hope that they'll have a smooth transition back into society.

Sears said he expects one result if the state complies with the Adam Walsh Act will be a larger number of offenders with information posted online, including some as young as 14 if they are convicted in adult court.

But with Gov. Jim Douglas and others calling for a "Jessica's Law," with 25-year mandatory minimum sentences for sex offenders, and with national media personalities pummeling Vermont as being soft on sexual predators, any concern for youthful offenders or for the privacy of those promising to mend their ways is at an ebb.

"The idea (of the Adam Wash Act) seems to be that most sex offenders have to be on the Internet," Sears said. "And I don't think a lot of us (lawmakers) have a problem with that."

The changes Vermont will have to make under the federal law are complex.

Vermont currently has essentially a two-tiered program for weighing the risks convicted sex offenders are expected to pose when they are released from supervision by the Department of Corrections: "high-risk" and regular offenders, Englert said.

Offenders are assigned to either of the two categories based on a psycho-sexual evaluation and other factors weighed by the Department of Corrections as an offender's release date nears.

The federal rules, just issued in final form this month by the U.S. Department of Justice, call for a three-tiered system based not on a professional evaluation, but on the category of crime for which the offender has been convicted.

Another big change will be in-person reporting requirements.

Vermont law currently allows sex offenders who will be on the registry to check in with the Department of Public Safety by mail when they are first registered and annually thereafter, or when they move or enroll in college. Englert said when the person hasn't moved, this is usually accomplished by filling out a form sent by her office around the time of the offender's birthday.

The new federal rules will require offenders to report in person to a designated law-enforcement agency -- annually for tier-one offenders, who've been convicted of the least serious crimes; twice a year for those convicted of more serious crimes; and quarterly for the most serious offenders.

Yet a third big change -- "the one that concerns me the most," Englert called it -- is that the state will be required to notify schools, day-care centers and other organizations working with children weekly about any sex offenders living within their vicinity. This likely would have to be done by certified mail, Englert said.

But overall, she said she was optimistic Vermont can meet the requirements if the Legislature decides that is what the state needs to do.

"I think it's very doable," Englert said. "Most of us are pretty creative. We have to be to get the job done."

Jane Woodruff, executive director of the Department of States' Attorneys and Sheriffs' Association, said she was worried about the financial impacts.

"We have to be able to support it financially," Woodruff said. "That's the issue for me. How much is this going to cost?"

She added a plea often made by state officials in the face of new federal requirements. "Don't create unfunded mandates."