Sex Offender Legislation "Blocked by Democrats" in Colorado

A novel idea has been circulating in Colorado concerning sex offenders. Even for those who weren't convicted for luring their victims via the Internet, their computer could become a ready weapon, especially for those under house arrest or otherwise restricted in their travel. For those who are being released from a long prison term, some have pointed out, the Internet may be something they have not even used yet. A proposal has been set forth in the Colorado legislature to put some controls on.

The proposal put forth, embodied as House Bill 1127, would require the registration of email addresses, IM names and chat room identities used by sex offenders.

The bill died in a democrat-dominated committee, without reaching the full legislative body. A revised, weakened version is in the works, but commentator Bill O'Reilly of Fox News Channel added this news to his "Talking Points," and has demonized the Democrats as not caring at all about sex offenders. Organizations like Media Matters for America have come out attacking O'Reilly and the State Attorney General, a Republican, using their trademark "flaw" and "misstatement" finding to show that O'Reilly and the Attorney General were really Democrat-bashing in return. In the mean time, a potentially important protection is yet another catalyst for political opponents to come out of their corners with gloves on.

The Attorney General's site posted this quote: "All of law enforcement and the victim advocate community favored this bill. The additional burden on sex offenders would be far outweighed by the additional protection to children on the Internet," commented Suthers. "If politics played a role in this vote, I think that's unconscionable." ZDnet's website posted this quote from Rep. Terrance Carroll (D-Denver), who said: "I just think it's shameful that the attorney general chose to resort to political grandstanding as opposed to good, sound and pragmatic public policy."

So, the actual issues in the story have been lost in the swinging of the media spotlight from one side to the other, another chance to make political - or even just media - points. What about the proposal itself?

It's not clear why the committee voted it out, although there has been a consistent rejection of laws in Colorado based on projected costs in the prison system. The Democrats were quoted as rejecting the law as "toothless" based on the impracticality of registering something which can be newly created again in minutes, with free email and unlimited IM addresses. But little was mentioned of the deterrent factor, of offenders knowing that, as they create and use unregistered addresses, they are already putting one foot back in jail.

Proposals like this are often revisited and, if political maneuvering was the original problem, will make it on a second or third reading. That, or publicizing a crime that would have been prevented had the bill passed will push it to the front. While the Attorney General claims that being "unfair to [the] sex offenders" was the problem that the Democrats saw, there may also be those who quietly are thinking about the cost to freedom of requiring registration by anyone, and waiting until that gets a bit more hearing before they pass such a law. Time will tell.

As of this writing, the bill has been resubmitted with the "compromise" originally offered to the Attorney General, focusing only on child molesters. The Attorney General's alleged "grandstanding" resulted from his professed belief that women were at risk, also, and should not be removed from the legislation. He does, however, support the legislation now being proposed, according to the Rocky Mountain News.

http://government.zdnet.com/?p=2995

http://www.ago.state.co.us/press_detail.cfm?pressID=837

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5369220,00.html

http://www.ala.org/ala/acrlbucket/candrlnews/internetreviews/200701/mediamatters.htm

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5413738,00.html