ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, July 5, 1996 TAG: 9607050099
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press
Lt. Gov. Don Beyer wants the public to have access to a state list of sex offenders, but the Allen administration says the names will be available anyway starting next week.
Beyer said Wednesday he will propose changing the law at the 1997 General Assembly session to broaden access to the registry. The current law gives access to schools, day-care centers and others who work with children, he said.
``I want to take it the next step and give parents the chance to check names of people who might be working with their children,'' said Beyer, who is expected to be the Democratic candidate for governor in 1997.
But Secretary of Public Safety Jerry Kilgore said the Department of Corrections on Monday will initiate a computer database, accessible to the public, that will include the names of all offenders - not just sex offenders - on parole or probation.
Kilgore said his secretariat and the Department of Corrections have been working with Attorney General Jim Gilmore, the likely GOP candidate for governor next year, since February in compiling the list. All public records of convictions have been keyed into the database, he said.
If someone wanted to, they could buy the list from the Department of Corrections, Kilgore said. And he said the department has notified all parolees and probationers that the information will be available to the public.
The sex offender registry was established in July 1994 after recommendations by the Commission on the Reduction of Sexual Assault Victimization in Virginia. Beyer was chairman of the commission.
The names of more than 3,500 convicted and released sex offenders are on the registry.
According to the state police, more than 38,000 inquiries have been made to the registry in the past two years. The state police had no information on the number of arrests, or crimes prevented, by information being obtained from the registry.
Beyer said the commission proposed in 1994 making the information accessible to everyone, but the General Assembly balked. The Virginia Crime Commission was opposed to unlimited public access, he said.
``Seventeen other states have some form of public access; we're not breaking new ground here,'' he said. ``The sex offender registry has worked well. There have been no cases of vigilantism. It has had a secure enough history to move forward to the next step.''
Kent Willis, director of the Virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the organization believes the sex offender registry is an invasion of privacy.
``These people have served their time and are ready to be returned to society,'' he said. ``They shouldn't be punished a second time. This amounts to a scarlet letter.''
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