From Mark's Desk:
April 22, 2005

Fighting Sexual Predators: Senate Strengthens Sex Offender Registry

By Senator Mark Norris

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. The tragic loss of nine-year Jessica Lunsford in Florida last month reminds us of the importance of tough and effective registration requirements for convicted sex offenders.

Florida authorities found Jessica’s body following a confession by her killer, John Evander Couey, a sex offender with multiple prior arrests. When questioned by police, Couey confessed to the crime and provided the location of Lunsford’s body, buried approximately 150 yards from her home in Homosassa, Florida. Couey failed to register his change of address as a sex offender. While we may never know the complete significance of his non-compliance in registering, one cannot help but wonder whether this heartbreak could have been avoided if Couey’s whereabouts had been known.

I am pleased to report that the Senate has passed the “Sex Offender Registry Clean-Up Bill” which I co-sponsored in order to assure that legislation we adopted last year might prevent a similar fate for Tennessee children. Since enactment of the 2004 law, there has been significant improvement in Child Sexual Offender reporting. According to Montgomery County District Attorney John Carney, there was a 37% rate of reporting in 2003 as compared to 67% after the law was passed. Currently, there are over 7,800 convicted offenders on the sexual offender registry. The Lunsford case pointed to some loopholes in Tennessee’s law which have now been filled.

If adopted by the House of Representatives, the law passed by the Senate will shorten by eight days the time a convicted sex offender can reside in Tennessee without registering. It defines residency to include “…any other living accommodations in this state for five (5) consecutive days.” Temporary workers must register within forty-eight (48) hours of employment. This encourages prompt compliance.

The bill also allows for the addition of “secondary residences” to include those who may not be full-time residents in a particular locale. This language would allow law enforcement greater latitude in requiring sexual offenders to register. The bill clarifies the meaning of “homeless” as those offenders who do not have a primary or secondary residence and subjects them to the registration requirements of the act. The “homeless” offender is not exempt from the registration requirements just because he is “homeless.”

By strengthening the sexual offender registry requirements, we hope to strengthen Tennessee’s defenses against predators.