For Immediate Release

July 27, 2006

 

HOUSE PASSES TOUGHER SEX OFFENDER LAWS

 

Don Humason, Jr., Westfield’s State Representative, announced today that late last night in a formal session the House of Representatives passed a package of tougher laws against sex offenders. 

In a bi-partisan effort, Humason and his colleagues voted to extend the statute of limitations for victims of child sexual abuse, tighten sex offender registration requirements, and mandate Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking for Level 2 and Level 3 sex offenders.

Currently GPS tracking is only required for Level 3 sex offenders, but is not tied to any form of supervision.  The adopted substitution extends this to Level 2 sex offenders and closes a legislative loophole by giving the authority to the Board of Probation to determine exclusionary zones and monitor those wearing the devices. 

“It’s every parent’s worst nightmare to learn that a sex offender is lurking nearby to where their children are living, playing, or going to school,” Humason said.  “Massachusetts has a deserved reputation of being a fairly liberal state with respect both to penalties and attitudes about sex offenders.  This legislation will make it harder for sex offenders to re-offend and will keep the Bay State from becoming a magnet for these despicable criminals.”

Under the bill, which now moves to the Senate for their deliberation and vote, the statute of limitations would be increased to 27 years from its current 15, giving childhood victims until they are 43 years old to report sexual crimes.

 The bill also demands that convicted sex offenders are registered with the state's Sex Offender Registry Board and classified before they are released from prison.  There is currently no statutory timeline for classification, which results in delayed registration and community notification.  Classification prior to release will eliminate the option for sex offenders to avoid community notification by appealing their classification level.

The bill strengthens the registration requirements of sex offenders by requiring those registering a homeless shelter as a residential address to register with the Sex Offender Registry Board every 45 days rather than the current law of every 90 days.  Language was accepted to increase the penalties for falsely registering a homeless shelter to 6 months to 5 years of jail time and or a fine of $1,000 for the first offense, and minimum 5 years of jail time for a second offense.

The legislation also penalizes Level 2 and 3 sex offenders who fail to register with the Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board with lifetime parole, and prohibits Level 3 sex offenders from living in nursing homes and intermediate care facilities for the mentally retarded.

“We need to have zero tolerance for permissive laws regarding convicted sexual offenders living in our cities and towns,” Humason said.  “I don’t mind saying, I think sexual predators, especially those that target innocent children, should be locked up and the key thrown away.  Barring that, we need to make it as hard on them as we can to prevent them from re-offending.”

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