Lorain/Elyria, OH
New sex offender law takes effect in Ohio
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More Ohio felons will be classified as sexual predators under a new state law that went into effect Tuesday that also will require the state’s sheriffs to notify more people about where offenders live.
The Legislature passed the law last year to comply with a federal one that requires states to increase registration requirements by 2009 or lose some federal funding. The federal law is named after Adam Walsh, a 6-year-old Florida boy abducted and killed in 1981.
The state has about 23,000 registered sex offenders under eight classifications. Under the new law, offenders will be classified under a three-tier system. It will require longer registration times for felons and mandatory community notification for some offenders once considered low-level.
“This is going to increase the workload of sheriffs by 60 percent, because 60 percent of the low-level registered offenders now have been put into the highest tier,” said Robert Cornwell, executive director of the Buckeye State Sheriffs’ Association.
“We didn’t fight it because we understand the greater need to know by the community,” Cornwell said.
A few offenders have managed to block the new penalties from affecting them for now.
On Monday, judges in Cleveland ordered the state and Cuyahoga County sheriff to not take action against two offenders until they can have hearings.
One case involved a man who was 18 when he pleaded guilty in 2000 to sexual battery and corruption of a minor. Dillon Chupa was labeled a sexually oriented offender, requiring him to register with the county sheriff every year for 10 years.
The new law requires him to register with the sheriff every few months and the sheriff, in turn, would have to notify the neighbors of where he lives and works, said lawyer Larry Zukerman. He also must register for the rest of his life.
Zukerman said the law effectively throws out the ruling by the judge who found Chupa was a low-level offender.
“This is a knee-jerk reaction which unconstitutionally violates people’s rights,” Zukerman said.
The Ohio Public Defender’s office, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Ohio Justice and Policy Center oppose the law because of the retroactive provisions. The Ohio Supreme Court rejected their challenge last month.
In Columbus, a judge has blocked the sheriff from notifying neighbors of one convicted sex offender reclassified under the new law.
The man was convicted of sexual battery nearly 10 years ago, was put on probation and has had no subsequent convictions. But sexual battery is now classified at the highest level under the new law and, like Chupa, requires him to register his address for life.
“It’s a mess created by politicians, and it’s going to be a mess for the courts to sort out,” Franklin County Common Pleas Judge David Cain said Monday.
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For those of you who cannot set boundaries where children are concerned, then obviously someone else must ensure others are kept safe from you. When you violate a child, you have no right to privacy, and other potential victims must be warned so they can do whatever it takes to stay away and protect themselves from YOU! Thank goodness there are still lawmakers with backbones!
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I totally agree with Arby’s comments when it comes to children being victims of these people. However, this law effects people who have been convicted of crimes against adults as well. I dare say that the majority of those convicted of sex related crimes are against adults and NOT children. As a law enforcement officer for over 31 years of experience I will be the first to tell you that this at times is a very grey area of enforcement. I have seen cases that should have been dealt with better in domestic court between “then” consenting adults, be taken to criminal court. The end result is that the “complaintant/victcim” changes thier mind and/or story but it is to late. A person is then convicted or plea bargains to a lessor crime and is then technically a sexual criminal. Both men and women. I think that society should take a minute to think what it really wants to do in these cases and let the Judge decide who is and who is not a sexual criminal on a case by case basis. If we would do the same to traffic offenses we would all be labled as reckless operators. Let the merits of the case serve as the deciding factor as who is and who is not a risk to society. As it is now the Judge has their hands tied and otherwise law abiding citizens will now have to deal with this in public for the rest of their lives. What if it was you, or your adult child who became involved in a very stupid situation, would you want them to have to register for the rest of their live and have this hang over their heads? I am not talking about everyone, but that is what the law reads. EVERYONE, not a case by case basis. This in my opinion not what justice is about.
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Common sense must prevail. Save the registry, community notification and monitoring for the few cases that truly demand it. Most of these offenders serve out the terms of their punishment and go on to never offend again. Having them register after they have served their debt to society is WRONG!! Statistics show that registries are not effective. If someone is determined to reoffend they aren’t going to do it near where they live…they will go to a place where no one knows them. Not to mention that registering causes pain and suffering to the family of the offender. They are a part of this equation, too. Let them live their lives free from harassment so they can move on to become productive, law abiding citizens. That is the only way to help reduce the likelihood of reoffending. If the law requires that neighborhoods be notified of where these felons live and work then what about drug dealers, murderers and thieves? They’re felons, too.
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I believe this law is unfair to those that have served their punishment and have not offended since. If they were sentenced under a lesser penalty, they should be exempt from the new law. This to me is double jeopordy. Wake up, even murders have more rights.
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Please do not think I advocate abolishing all sex offender laws. Some may be necessary. I could even understand why I was expected to register my address annually for ten years after my release. I know I would want to know if a registered “sex offender” lived by my grandchildren. And in fact a couple do live near them, which makes me uneasy. I’ve gone online and tried to find out as much as I could about those offenders… not because I want to persecute them or condemn them, but because I feel it’s my duty as a grandfather to know what potential threats are out there, know who to watch, etc. I don’t want to assume every such registered offender is guilty, because I know all too well that it is possible for the innocent to be convicted. But I also know that the majority of folks on those sex offender registries are guilty as charged - and in many cases guilty of much more that they were charged with. The public has a right to know.
But I do advocate intelligent sex offender laws. The new Ohio senate bill 10 (which went into effect 1 January 2008) is quadrupling the registration requirements on people like me. The court, parole authority, and psychologists who evaluated me determined that I am in the lowest risk category… which requires registration once a year for ten years. I could accept that, understand the need - even though being registered has hurt my job prospects and been an embarrassment. But SB 10, passed by Ohio in response to the federal Adam Walsh Act, throws out “likelihood to re-offend” as a criterion for classification and uses “crime of conviction” alone. Thus, because my crime of conviction is rape, I will now be required to register every three months for life. This has been a crushing blow emotionally for me and my family… as I had hoped to just put it all behind me and lead a relatively “normal” life after my ten years of registration had expired.
The main issue with this new law has nothing to do with me, however. While they are increasing the requirements of people like me who have been determined to be low risk, they are NOT increasing the penalties on the higher risk registered sex offenders. Those whom the courts have deemed predators were ALREADY required to register every three months for life. They require the most intense “supervision” and pose the biggest threat - and yet the new law does not do anything to make our children safer from these “biggest threats.” In fact some of them will be having FEWER registration requirements as a result of the new law. Case in point: A guy I knew in prison, who I’ll call Jim, was a serial child molester. I had attended sex offender programming in prison and he was in my group. He proclaimed that he didn’t see anything wrong with “loving children,” as he put it… I mean, this guy was very, very sick. But he wasn’t in prison for “rape.” Why? Because the prosecutor was afraid he wouldn’t be able to convict him… so they offered “Jim” a plea bargain for a relatively minor charge (something to do with having lewd images of a minor on his computer). Now this was a guy who made no qualms about admitting that he’d molested children (and he would be placed in protective custody after a while as a result). But he got out of prison after two years with no parole or anything. Fortunately a judge who was certain that the guy was dangerous labeled him a predator and required him to register every three months for life.
Now we get back to Ohio Senate Bill 10. Because it throws out “likelihood to re-offend” as a criterion and ignores the judge’s (and other experts’) opinions, it classes Jim SOLELY based on his “crime of conviction.” Thus my requirements increase greatly, despite several determinations that I am low risk, and Jim’s requirements DECREASE significantly despite the fact that anyone acquainted with him or his case knows he’s high risk. Why? Because his “crime of conviction” is a much lower level felony than “rape.” This is dead wrong.
Thank goodness Jim’s not in my grandchildren’s neighborhood. But he’s in someone’s neighborhood. And the police who will be spending a whole lot more time checking up on me will be spending a whole lot less time checking up on Jim and the others like him (a great majority of the registered sex offenders in Ohio did accept plea agreements, unlike me - because they were often guilty, unlike me).
So I’m saying blanket one-size-fits-all sex offender laws, while politically expedient, are often unwise and counterproductive. Let the experts review and judge each case individually - and then make the registration requirements fit the need. Many registered sex offenders are monsters. Yet there are also many who aren’t. And I believe in rehabilitation, and I’ve seen it work (there may be some individuals for whom it is impossible, but it is wrong to group everyone in that category). To borrow a biblical metaphor, we need to separate the wheat from the chaff, and come up with intelligent, well-thought-out, effective laws. A lot of politicians seem unwilling to look at the current laws critically, because they don’t want to appear soft on sex offenders. But their failure to do so seems to be a grievous miscarriage of justice and dereliction of duty.
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I think that instead of trying to change laws on classifications they should hire more people to investigate crimes before “dropping” them. My seven year old son “accidently” told us he was being molested by a male friend of ours. The police department spoke with him one time and then because he passed a lie detector test, he was cleared. I t is very well known that a lie detector can be faked, as the Chronicle reported weeks later after I spoke with a reporter. This man has a job where he works with little boys everyday, and he continues to live his life daily. My son is STILL in counseling, still wakes up in the middle of the night screaming, and wonders why the police department, in which he has ALWAYS been raised to believe protected him, doesn’t believe him. The wonderful laws of this county let my child down, and because I don’t have the finances to pursue this, (legal aid is a joke) my son’s molestor will never be labeled a sex offender, and he will never be given the justice he derserves.
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When I look at the sex offender registry list in my neighborhood and I see someone who lives nearby, I get mad. I get worried because I have kids. I cop an attitude. I even call my friends and family to let them know about it. It’s natural to want to protect your own. But here’s the problem. If the registrant is not a threat of any kind to me and mine, and if the crime was a non-violent act of consensual sex with a minor, or worse yet-if the registrant was innocent, then I become the violator. I become the offender and the registrant, my victim. Sorry but no. The registry laws are bad. When I look at the sex offender registry, I’m looking to protect my family, not hurt someone else’s. I resent any law that tricks me into doing that.
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I think instead of lawmakers changing laws to help “protect” sex offenders, they need to concentrate on pursing them. My 7 year son came to us and “accidently” revealed he had been being molested for months from a good male friend of ours. This man lived with us, and after going to the police station and filling out a report (and being told I could be charged if I didn’t let him back in the house since that was his residence) immediately tried to find help. There is none. The police spoke with him once, and I informed them that he has a personality disorder and no conscious, yet they still insisted on giving him a lie detector test, which of course he passed, he’s pschycotic and convinced himself that he was innocent. The charges were droppped, and 2 months later when I called to check the status of the case was informed of the dropped charges, I wasn’t even given the courtesy of a phone call!!!! My son still attends counseling, still wakes up in the middle of the night screaming and still asks me why the wonderful police department in which he has been raised to believe will always protect him, doesn’t believe him. Because I don’t have the personal finances to pursue this, this child molester walks. He works with little children everyday and I pray that no one else has suffered what my son or famiily has went through. Becasue of lawmakers trying to reduce there case load, my son was deprived of justice, justice he very well deserves, and the molestor, walks around everyday breathing air he doesn’t.
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Blanket coverage insurance does cover things like floods and “acts of God”.
Laws shouldn’t either.
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I agree that this list needed to be updated. Continusouly. I know someone that did get charged with sexual conduct with a minor, and I have found out that this person still contacts youger girls. I think this is the way it should be. I like the idea that a click of a button, I can find out if someone “Can” hurt my child in a second. I watch my children very closely, and I don’t want to take away, riding their bikes or playing with friends, or walking to a neighbors house, but with this list, it makes it easier to not being afraid to let them out of the house. Before we bought our house, I looked to see what was around me first. And I think alot of people do to now a days.
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This law shouldn’t be allowed. If you agree to one charge and then later it can be changed? I don’t believe that is right! Like saying you bought a house and it was $150,000. 9 years later the owner comes to you and says now I changed my mind you now owe me $300,000. Its the same thing and shouldn’t be allowed. Anyone who rapes or touches a child should be locked up for good and we wouldn’t even have to have these people on a list!
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when i was 5 years old i was molested by my stepfather, who told me to never tell anyone or he would kill me, well my mother caught him molesting me, and the police never did anything back then, so he was free to room the streets as he pleased and i wonder how many more victims there were, he never did jail time, nor did he ever pay child support for his son, he was a low life bum that never cared about anyone in his life, and of course he lived to be 80 years old as he died last year hurrah hurrah!! there is no justice in our laws, just castrate the bastards and let them rot in prison where they belong… sue
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AMEN, SUE!!!
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I believe they should all be locked up or put on island somewhere where they can’t hurt anybody, then we don’t have to worry about them hurting our children, or ourselves. My 7 yr old son was molested by a 14 year old child, and there was no justice from our wonderful city. He told me immediately after it happened and this child was prosecuted, and put on probation. As it turned out he wasn’t on probation a year, and was let off, apparently an error, as he had another adult apparently posing as a parent. The probation department, I was told by the probation officer, is supposed to make a closing home visit, which never even happened.. This boy didnt spend a single night even in the Detention Center. He violated his probation a number of times by staying out to late, missing school etc. had an adult not a parent somehow get him off probation and nothing was ever done, even after his father called, and I wrote letters to the judge. (and I know he called because I was there). Now tell me how this boy ever learned and was properly punished for what he did? Thank you Elyria Justice Center!!
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Also bear in mind that a great deal of offenses are committed by someone known to the victim. Someone you welcome into your home. It’s usually not the person listed on a registry that you need to be concerned with. They have all been caught and are being watched. It’s the people that haven’t been caught that you should be worried about. Punishment should be handed out on a case-by-case basis. How many victims? Did the offender cooperate with law enforcement? Did they go through an offender recovery program? Do they accept responsibility for what they did? Do they have a good support system i.e. family and friends to reach out to? Are they gainfully employed? What risk is there of reoffending in the future? How do the victim and the offender’s family feel? If there must be a registry then so be it…but don’t make it readily available to a vigilante public. Let these people have a chance to rebuild a productive life. If they are surrounded by family and friends and are able to be successful they are much more likely to never reoffend than a person who is constantly required to move and unable to get a job. Once their sentence and probation has been fulfilled…let them go as long as there isn’t a risk of reoffending.
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We have experienced the shock and disappointment of injustice in these Ohio county’s.. We continue to have constant watch on a sexual offender who remains classified as cleared by the Justice system after physical assaults on two children in past years. This has resulted in Law Officers stating this mans record is clear. Stalking our children became a fear and it was reported. I wonder whom of our State officials will intervene to assure that Law Officials have and are doing their duties within the ORC’s etc. Jurisdiction appears to override laws. This Legislation is great and also puts a heavier burdon in those Counties who honor laws and Constitutional Rights. Perhaps in those Counties where Ohio laws are honored within Jurisdiction, Citizens may be safer.
Children may be prevented the scars of Sexual Abuse.
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Does anyone in OH know that there is a system in Illinois that is a very sophisticated tracking system for ex-offenders, including sex offenders? I think its also being run in Colorado. It requires constant checkins, is tied to an ankle bracelet system and takes the burden off of the officers instead of adding to it. The website is http://www.thenextstep99.com if anyone’s interested.
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I cant believe what im hearing. People going on and on about laws not being “fair” to the sex offenders? That laws like these “cause pain and heartache” for the offenders and their families. WHO GIVES A CRAP! What about being fair to the vicitim?! What about the pain and heartache of the victim and their families?! Forget the pity card here people… cause im not playing it! Coming from someone who has dealt with this very issue as a very young girl… and he got away with it. One has to know that even if an offender doesnt go after children.. then they obviously go after adults. I will ALWAYS be on my guard. Having gone through it 20 years ago, I will do everything in my power to make sure it doesnt happen to my children. And if anything ever does.. they better hope someone else catches the bastard.
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we no longer live in a free country cause all the politcians run this country and they all have forgotten whom has died for these rights we have had threw the years, sexual abuse has been around since god created man kind, no people dont get second chances, walk into any local amvets or vfw, americon legion and look around at the folks in there and ask them what they did for us and i guarntee they have sacraficed alot more mentaly and physicaly than any crupt law maker. what everhappen to the saying “if you cant do the time then dont do the crime” well i done my time and now they want to add on even after the fact that my dues to society are paid, that is how bad our country is getting and i blame it all on the younger generations not for taking voting serious enough. i have two years left on my registery and I have went to prison, done there probation, done there counseling, got a job,started my family me and my wife have five wonderful kids together.if you want to protect your kids then learn how to keep an eye on them and know what they are doing and watch the people you bring around your kids dont depend on our goverment to be your babysitter, and for victims that get hurt, i am sorry some of have no remorse for what they do , but i do, what i have done has effected my whole family now here it is almost 10 years later and my kids have to pay for my crimes. thats where the law goes to far,if your moaning about being a victim their is counsiling out there for you to help you out and try to help you live a productive life now with this new law they are trying to stop people from getting on with life.this law is putting my wife and kids out in harms way if they have a problem with me come to me not my kids and family. this new law is going to make the state of ohio some realy good law suites for punitive damage and mental abuse for offender families, any lawyers out there read this and would like to represent 90 sex offenders in paulding county ohio feel free to email me, these case will make great publicity cases for a young and shark attitude lawyer. in ohio they have whats called victim compensation its where the state pays you for being a victim, kinda like being disabled. just telling that for the victims that read this and think i am being an a**hole,
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im a victim of rape by my step dad at the time , he got less then two years for what he did to me .he got remarried has a daughter with this woman were was my rights? he should have rott in jail. if u have dirty thoughts about children you are so not normal u are sick they need to make harder laws.thank god for john walsh. hes always out there getting scums off the street, i want to know whos living next door to me and my children
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