Virginia has begun posting on the World Wide Web the names andaddresses of more than 4,600 violent sex offenders in the state,giving parents a new tool to protect their children but also renewingfears about the erosion of privacy in the Information Age.
A click of a computer mouse can open a Virginia State Police listof sex offenders in any town, county or Zip code in the state. A fewmore clicks can bring up the offenders' full names, ages, homeaddresses, convictions and photographs.
State officials praised the new technology during a demonstrationhere today, but civil libertarians and others worried that theinstant availability of such information could lead to harassment offormer sex offenders and make their rehabilitation more difficult."This is the scarlet-letter approach to rehabilitation," said KentWillis, Virginia director of the American Civil Liberties Union."History tells us this doesn't work."Little academic research exists on the value of publicizing listsof sex offenders, but statutes patterned after New Jersey's "Megan'sLaw" require such registries in nearly every state. Virginia is the10th state to take the extra step of creating a Web site to easeavailability; private citizens in Michigan and California havecreated their own computer registries of sex offenders.Until Monday, information from the state's registry of violent sexoffenders was available only in paper form by mail, for a $15 charge.And before July 1, only Virginia schools, day-care centers and youthgroups could legally obtain such information from state police,although criminal records are available to the public in courthousesacross the state.As offenders' criminal records have moved to easily accessibleInternet registries, several lawsuits have challenged the widerelease of such sensitive information. Among other things, offendershave said that being listed on Web sites is a violation of privacythat amounts to additional punishment for their crimes.Two Virginia sex offenders got court orders removing their nameseven before the new registry went online this week. Police officialssaid one of the offenders convinced a court that his child wouldsuffer unfairly from the publicity; another won a temporaryinjunction by saying he had reformed since his conviction severalyears ago.Virginia State Police spent $200,000 building the registry, whichwas required by a law passed this year by the General Assembly. Theaddress for the Web site -- which includes the names of 81 women --is www.vsp.state.va.us.Officials called the system "state of the art" and vouched for thevalidity of its information, even though routine checks of theregistry yesterday revealed several cases of duplicated names orother incorrect information. One Fauquier County man was listed withtwo different, but similar, last names; a Reston man appears oncewith his actual name, and again with his first and last namesreversed.Lawmakers who pushed to create the system said today that theywere pleased with the result."The police cannot be on every street corner," said Del. R.Creigh Deeds (D-Bath). "The people need to be armed so they may beequipped to protect themselves from sexual predators."But critics warn of potentially serious problems. Falseinformation, created by errors in the registry or by computer hackerswho change information in it, could irreparably damage reputations,they say.Information in a registry also might inspire vigilantes to seekout those on the list or cause former offenders to lose jobs orhousing as they try to turn their lives around, critics say.Advocates for offenders say such a hostile climate would makerehabilitation more difficult -- and perhaps lead to more sex crimes.Last summer, the nonprofit group Habitat for Humanity evicted aman from its first home in Prince William County after neighborslearned that he had killed his stepsister several years earlier andmore recently had been charged with abducting a 12-year-old girl fromManassas.State Police Superintendent M. Wayne Huggins played down thepossibility of vigilantism. He noted, as does the Web site, thatunder Virginia law it is illegal to use information from the registryto harass or intimidate a sex offender. The crime carries a penaltyof up to a year in jail.One Fairfax County sex offender listed on the state's registry,who spoke on the condition that his name not be published, said hehas married, found a job managing a store and devoted his life to Godsince leaving prison six years ago. He fears he may have to move ifneighbors turn against him after seeing his name on the Web site."I think it's going a little too far," he said. "The next stepwould be for the sheriff to go around and rally the neighbors to runsomebody out of town."Robert E. Freeman-Longo, a Vermont therapist who studies sexcrimes, said "although the intention is to educate people and notcreate fear and panic and vigilantism . . . {registries} create allthese things."Virginia's Web site includes the name of anyone who has beenconvicted, on parole or jailed for a violent sex crime since 1994,when the state began compiling a list of sex offenders. It alsolists sex offenders who have moved to the state in the last fewyears.For the registry's purposes, violent sex offenses include rape,attempted rape and forcible sodomy but not incest, fondling ofchildren or marital sexual battery. A registry of nonviolent sexualoffenders is available to schools and day-care centers but is not onthe Internet.State police vowed to keep both registries current. Manyoffenders will be easy to track because more than one in four on theregistry are in jail for other crimes. Those not in jail arerequired to update their file every 90 days. Failing to register orgive required updates is a felony, carrying a penalty of up to fiveyears in prison.The ACLU and other opponents of the registry warn that suchrequirements violate the rights of offenders who already havecompleted their sentences and parole requirements.But in Virginia and across the country, such complaints have beenoverwhelmed by the push to give parents more tools to protectchildren.Virginia Sex Offenders on Web SiteVirginia State Police have begun posting on their Internet site(www.vsp.state.va.us) the names of more than 4,600 people who wereconvicted of violent sex crimes in recent years. Below is a list ofhow many offenders are listed for each Northern Virginiajurisdiction.Jurisdiction No. of offenders PopulationAlexandria 46 116,405Arlington 57 172,580Fairfax City 4 20,365Fairfax County 181 914,259Falls Church 3 9,879Fauquier 20 53,167Loudoun 40 133,492Manassas 14 34,296Manassas Park 3 8,469Prince William 90 254,464Stafford 29 87,857SOURCE: Virginia State Police, U.S. Census Bureau 1997 populationestimates
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