[ OUR OPINION ]
Hearings are right way
to restore sex offender siteCOUNTY prosecutors belatedly are asking for hearings aimed at resurrecting an Internet registry of sex offenders living in Hawaii. The state Supreme Court ruled in November 2001 that hearings are required, and county prosecutors initially responded by throwing up their hands, saying they could not possibly hold hearings for each offender. Finally, they are sensibly petitioning for hearings for offenders they consider to be at the highest risk. A hearing is a basic right that should not be denied.
THE ISSUE
County prosecutors are moving to renew the posting of information on the Internet about convicted sex offenders in the state.
The Legislature approved a constitutional amendment, to be placed on this November's ballot, that would authorize it to establish a system for placing information about sex offenders on a Megan's Law registry. The amendment could allow legislators to deny hearings to some offenders, but a better system would assure hearings for those at the highest risk while protecting lesser offenders from enduring lifelong scarlet letters on a Web site.
Attorney General Mark Bennett says prosecutors had no good reason for failing to ask for hearings in the two years that passed since the Legislature approved a process for doing so. Hawaii's four county prosecutors now say they are moving to renew the posting of information on the registry by asking for hearings.
Maui Prosecutor Davelynn Tengan is petitioning for hearings for four convicted sex offenders whose victims were 12 years or younger. At least four hearings are being sought on the Big Island and several cases have been prepared on Kauai. The first Honolulu hearings are expected in early June.
Honolulu Prosecutor Peter Carlisle has said about 1,900 convicted sex offenders live in the state, and hearings for all of them could take six years and cost thousands of tax dollars. If the constitutional amendment is ratified, the Legislature should consider a standard of risk assessment such as that used in California for determining who should be on its Megan's Law Web site. Prosecutors could apply the same standard before legislators enact such a system, which could take effect in July 2005 at the earliest.
About 1,800 of California's 100,000 sex offenders are considered "high risk" because they were convicted of multiple violent offenses, including at least one sex crime. If the same percentage of Hawaii's offenders can be similarly classified, fewer than 35 of them could be targeted for hearings that would allow their photographs, work and home addresses and information about their crimes to be posted on the Web.
Eighty percent of California's offenders are considered to be of "serious" but not high risk for their convictions of single, violent sex crimes. Less than 17 percent are considered a low risk, having been convicted of such crimes as spousal rape or incest, and are protected from being posted on California's Internet site.
