Sex offender registration improves; but system needs more work, auditor says

Sex offender registration compliance has improved significantly since the system was last audited by the Missouri State Auditor's Office in 2002, but there's still room for improvement.

Missouri State Auditor Susan Montee expressed much concern upon releasing the audit, which finds the state of Missouri still having problems with the tracking and registering of some paroled sex offenders. "As disturbing as those still not registered, are those who are registered with communities that are not receiving mandated counseling required as part of their probation. That to me is a real public safety concern," said Montee.

A June 2009 Missouri Supreme Court ruling resulted in thousands of previously exempt sexual offenders being required to re-register on the sexual offender registry; however, 1,445 (32 percent) of these offenders had not re-registered as of March 31, 2010. In July 2009, the Missouri State Highway Patrol mailed letters to previously exempt offenders advising them of the June 2009 court decision and directing them to report and register with the chief law enforcement official in their county of residence within three days, unless they had already re-registered.

It was initially the intent of the MSHP to allow applicable offenders three months to re-register; however, many of the letters came back undeliverable. Since October 2009, the MSHP has attempted to locate current addresses of applicable offenders and add them back to the registry, the auditor's office said.

In July 2006, federal legislation known as SORNA was signed into law, providing a comprehensive set of minimum standards for sex offender registration and notification. All states were initially mandated to meet SORNA requirements by July 2009. In March 2009, the MSHP submitted a SORNA compliance package to the applicable federal office for evaluation. In March 2010, the MSHP received the results of the federal review of the compliance package submitted for Missouri. While the federal authorities recognized and commended the state for the efforts made thus far, they concluded that Missouri had not yet achieved substantial compliance with the SORNA requirements. MSHP officials indicated necessary improvements can be made to achieve substantial compliance with the SORNA requirements by the summer of 2011, if the needed legislative changes are enacted in the 2011 legislative session. The MSHP has requested and received approval from federal officials for an extension (to July 2011) to allow sufficient time to address current deficiencies.

A prior audit report by the Missouri State Auditor's Office noted local sexual offender registration units were not always made aware when an offender on the registration list had been incarcerated. The Department of Probation and Paroleaddressed this problem in 2005 with an amendment to its procedures. However, during visits to some DPP offices, it was determined three of eight DPP offices visited had not properly implemented the new procedures.

Officials at the various DPP offices visited indicated sexual offender treatment is a critical aspect of the DPP process to help prevent offenders from committing further sex crimes.

However, because some offenders were not able to pay for treatment and state funding has not been appropriated or designated for this purpose, treatment has not always been provided in a timely manner.

According to a report released Wednesday by the auditor's office, several recommendations were made in 2002 that have been implemented by lawmakers and law enforcement agencies.

A summary of the audit indicates that "further improvements are still needed to ensure (1) previously exempt offenders have re-registered, (2) further efforts are made to achieve substantial compliance with SORNA requirements, (3) data matches are performed to help locate non-compliant offenders, (4) current notification procedures are properly performed, and (5) timely evaluation and treatment services are provided." Federal law, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, required states to establish sex offender registration, which was implemented in Missouri in 1995, the report says. Since then, the system has been revamped and tightened.

But the 2002 audit noted that "based on a review of records in certain counties, approximately 36 percent of sexual offenders in Missouri had failed to meet their most recent registration/verification requirement." That led to recommendations to the legislature to enact additional legislation. A series of laws and court challenges followed, but as of March 31, 2010, Missouri had 10,549 actively registered sex offenders in 114 counties and one city (St. Louis) not within a county. Statewide non-compliance had been reduced from 36 percent in 2002 to about 7 percent, as of March 2010.

In Vernon County, there were 44 sex offenders, 37 of whom were in compliance with registration requirements and 7 were not, according to the auditor's report, which noted that slight differences might occur between the statewide data and local data due to lag time between when items sent to the state and they are uploaded into that system.