On March 12, 2018, CPCS Atty. Larni Levi, Director of the CPCS Alternative Commitment & Registration Support Unit, testified before the Joint Committee on the Judiciary in opposition to a recently filed bill, S.2311 – An Act Relative to the Sex Offender Registry Board, which would mandate that level 1 sex offenders register with local police.
Atty. Levi told the Committee that the bill would reverse a 1998 law that shielded Level 1 sex offenders from public disclosure. Before then, all sex offenders were required to register in person.
She explained, “Level 1 offenders are now only required to register with the registry by mail, and their personal information is not public. Once a person’s name, description and home or work address is provided to the public, there’s no restriction on what can be done with that information.”
She added, “They can post it on the Internet, put it up around the community, or send it to the individual’s workplace. As a result, the individual is often fired or gets evicted. We see this with Level 2 and 3 offenders.”
Levi explained further that increasing the number of persons required to register with the police could have a negative impact on public safety. She told the Committee that now Level 2 and 3 offenders who try to register in Boston are turned away and given a future date to return to register. She said, “Requiring local police to register thousands of Level 1 offenders in person would further divert limited police resources away from the highest-risk individuals.”