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Sex-offender registry
needs greater care

THE ISSUE The state attorney general has removed 256 entries on the sex-offender Web site.

THE Attorney General's Office was quick to expand the number of convicted sex offenders posted on its online registry from 74 to 1,400 following Governor Lingle's signing into law a measure authorizing their inclusion. However, a Kalihi man whose conviction had been set aside and as many as 256 others who were not intended for the registry were mistakenly posted on the Web site. The deplorable haste in displaying the scarlet letters could inflict lasting harm.

Voters approved a constitutional amendment last year that allowed the Legislature to determine the criteria for posting convicted sex offenders' names, photographs and addresses on the Internet. Attorney General Mark Bennett interpreted the new law to allow the posting of those convicted of at least two Class C felony sexual assaults, the least serious of felony categories, stemming from separate incidents.

On Wednesday, the third day of the revised, modern-day town-square stocks, Bennett says he asked his staff if it had made sure that the multiple convictions for each Class C felon had not arisen from the same incident. After being given no such assurance, Bennett ordered the 256 names to be removed so they could be reviewed.

On the first day of the registry's expansion, it received 125,000 hits, presumably from residents checking to see if any offenders were living in their neighborhoods. In one case, the secretary of the Niu Valley Community Association notified residents by e-mail about a registered sex offender in their area.

How many of the single-incident Class C offenders were included on the Web site, and how many of those names were observed and recorded by browsers, is not known. "Quite simply, the bell cannot be un-rung," said Lois Perrin, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii.

The Center for Sex Offender Management, a Justice Department project, reported in 2001 that "anecdotal incidents of vigilantism and harassment" against sex offenders included on registries had been reported in almost every state. The harassment included graffiti, vandalism, arson, physical assaults and denial of housing.

The center pointed out that some states post warnings on their Web sites that actions taken against an individual on the list may result in arrest and prosecution, and that ostracizing the sex offenders can hinder their reintegration into the community. Such online advice is the least that the Attorney General's Office should give to control the damage.

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Dobelle must earn pay
with work of substance

THE ISSUE The former University of Hawaii president has little to show for his six-figure salary.

AS part of a settlement that ousted him as University of Hawaii president, Evan Dobelle was given a faculty research position, a job that pays more than $250,000 over two years.

There should be something to show for the expense. The Board of Regents and the UH administration are obliged to insist that Dobelle conduct a useful research project. Otherwise, the university is unacceptably throwing away good money after bad.

Indications are that Dobelle has done little to earn his salary, which exceeds that of full-time, top-scale professors by as much as $35,000 a year. The Star-Bulletin's Craig Gima reports that in the nine months since the settlement, Dobelle's work has yielded a page-and-a-half outline for a book, not much for a man his lawyer defends as "diligent and hard working."

The settlement that gave Dobelle about $1 million in severance and paid his attorney's fees does not specify that Dobelle produce anything from his research, according to an independent legal assessment. But it does require him to reach an agreement on a project and, as part of that agreement, the university should direct him to generate genuine scholarly work.

Dobelle's full attention might be diverted by his new post as president of the New England Board of Higher Education. However, he still owes the university and taxpayers a work product, more so since as a faculty member he is eligible for two pay raises through the term of his contract.

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