The sex offend levels need to looked at. Level 1 sex offends can be from people peeing in public, hiring a hooker or more serious crimes such as as kidnapping with intent to molest or burglary with the intent to commit a sexual offense. This class might also include peeping Toms, and possession of unlawful pornography. Level 1 contians too broad of a scope of "crimes". I really don't think that if someone hired a hooker needs to be public knowledge, but someone that kiddnapped for the intent of molesting should be made public. there really should be reform to the levels.

I have mixed feelings. As Diane said I don't think we need to know about the person relieves themselves by a bush outside and got caught. I also have mixed feelings about a person charged with statutory rape being a level 1 and having their picture and info out there – what if it is a just turned 18 year old and a 16, almost 17 year old, who have consensual sex and the parents pushed to have the older one charged?

I do think a peeping Tom can escalate and a great deterrent may be that members of your community will find out. I also think peeping Toms are super creepy, it can definitely lead to other things and most importantly this crime has a victim. I feel that while the person urinating (discreetly) outside might be inappropriate they certainly are not hurting anyone.

I, too, think what determines the level should be looked at as well as the person(s) who determined this monster was just a level 1. If what is being reported is true and his initial crime was against a child WHY was he deemed a level 1?! That is just crazy. Head should roll over that. While any crime against another person is terrible I feel crimes against children or elderly should be punished more severely.

He wants to create more expensive legislation because ONE man fell through the cracks? I presume that 1/3 of all offenders are level one. Why punish all of them for the few? One myth is that all sex offenders are the same. The distinction is important. There are people on the registry who urinated in public, that they sent a sex message to a loved one, that they might have had consensual teen sex versus someone who might have had brutally raped a dozen women or children. There is no distinction there. They think everybody on the registry is a monster. There is much misinformation circulated by many media and elected officials. The fact is the recidivism rate for sex offenders is the second lowest for any offense. It is 5.3% over a lifetime for all offenders and for those who are child molesters," it is even lower; it is 3.1%.

Devin Garramone, Christian Garramone, Jerome Michael Burton of Indiana. Deputy Donald Harder of NY, Joshua Lunsford; What do they all have in common? They are people who were arrested for sex offences and NONE of them are on the sex offender registry. The problem with persecuting REGISTERED sex offenders is that it gives a false sense of security. After all, how many people would have entrusted the care of their children with Sandusky who was not a registered sex offender and passed all his background checks?

I honestly don't care what the level is - if they are a sex offender, they should be registered. End of story. If you have kids you want to know if there's someone you should be aware of.

Stacy with all due respect, the question was not, should Level 1's be registered, but should Level 1 sex offenders be public knowledge?

Let me ask you something in a couple ways. There are two men who live in two apartments across the street form you. One you know is a RSO and the other man you know absolutely nothing about. What would would do differently in regards to the RSO then you would with the other gentlemen who live in your community? Why is being "aware" something you should be only when you become knowledgeable of a RSO's presence?

Here is what cracks me up! The leading number one crimes are all drug related. The majority of prison population are drug offenders. My son was encouraged to use drugs and he did every kind of drug while attending a middle school. My son is now a paranoid schizophrenic. Then you have addictions that are 10 times more expensive than alcohol or tobacco. The need for cash to buy drugs is related to burglaries, robberies, homicide, rape etc. So why does a level one sex offender get so much attention from the community? The man or woman living across the street, next door, or kids in school might all be distributing, selling or encouraging your kids to use or buy drugs that can cause a lifetime of damage. It seems to me the community at large has been "sex offender brain washed" and are not paying attention to the seriousness of drug related crimes and the massive damage it does to our youth.

You don't hear squat about drug crimes but daily you get sex offender reports. How irresponsible is this news reporting? Sex offenders are an issue for sure but you folks need to focus on the big picture DRUG RELATED CRIMES and the damage it does to you, your family and the community at large.

No! The registry is not needed in the first place. It doesn't protect anybody, nor does it prevent crime, it only turns people into homeless, jobless lepers who are forced to roam the streets, live under bridges, and some will turn to additional crime in order to survive.

The registry is nothing more than an online hit-list for vigilantes, and vigilantism is rising, and is proof why the registry should be taken offline and used by police only.

http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/2007/09/human-rights-issues.html

http://www.youtube.com/user/RSOVigilantism

I don't think Tier 1 registrants should be listed publicly. I don't think the registry should exist at all!

I think the bigger issue is media-induced mob mentality. We want families, children, our friends and neighbors to be safe- DUH! But sadly there are many out there who don't understand that nearly anything we do (or our children do) can get us labeled as Level 1 offenders: if your kid goes to college, gets drunk, flashes her breasts at passers-by, cops get called- she can become a registered offender. Your son likes to use the Internet to watch porn, clicks on a link, the site claims all people in the videos are 18+, turns out the girl in the video isn't 18- the government can track who has seen the video and can put your son on the registry. It's insane what they can put you on for. I think Level 1 offenders should be private, and they should be getting counceling.