Call to end appeals for sex offenders

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - The Rhode Island Attorney General’s office will once again throw their support behind legislation that would eliminate the ability for sex offenders to appeal their classification level.

Special Assistant Attorney General Joee Lindbeck said lawmakers need to get Rhode Island up to speed with the federal Adam Walsh Act, which requires a state to classify sex offenders based on the crime they commit.

“When a defendant is sentenced of the crime they were convicted of they would know that day what their tier level would be,” Lindbeck said. “If it was first degree child molestation, it would be a tier three, if it was video voyeurism, it would be a tier one.”

Right now, sex offenders are given a classification by the Sex Offender Board of Review, an eight-member panel that uses a formula to determine the persons’ likelihood they will reoffend. Offenders deemed a "level III" are at a high risk to reoffend, "level II" a moderate risk and "level I" a low risk. The classifications also determine whether or not the public is notified of their existence. "Level III" and "level II" sex offenders on the state's website and local police departments notify neighbors if one is residing in the area.

Rhode Island law allows offenders to appeal their classifications to the courts.

A Target 12 investigation revealed Magistrate Judge Patrick Burke – who hears the sex offender classification appeals in superior court – has overturned 58 percent of classifications given to offenders in the last year.

Lindbeck said while the Attorney General’s office respects the role of the judiciary, she feels the numbers reflect a need to change the system altogether.
“I think that is why we are fighting so hard for legislation to be passed,” Lindbeck said. “Our community has the right to know who is living around them.”

The Adam Walsh Act, also known as the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, is a federal law designed to set uniform requirements for states to track sex offenders and regulate how the public is notified about their existence.

Past legislation written to put the state in line with the Adam Walsh Act has failed on Smith Hill. States that have not complied with the federal law have lost out on federal funding in the past few years.

Carolyn Atwell-Davis, Director of Legislative Affairs with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said the act is important in creating a “seamless nationwide registry.”

“There needs to be consistency in how these offenders are classified,” Atwell-Davis said. “For uniformity we support using the offense-based system that is in the Adam Walsh act."

Locally, regular critics include the Rhode Island ACLU, which has testified at legislative hearings that stricter reporting requirements required by the act would give the public a false sense of security.

State Sen. Michael McCaffrey, D-Warwick, is chairman of the judiciary committee, which has held hearings on Adam Walsh bills in the past.

He declined to say whether or not he would support any new legislation that gets Rhode Island in-line with the federal law.

But he said the Rhode Island Attorney General’s office should be appealing more of Burke’s decisions if they take issue with his rulings.

“You never know until you do it,” McCaffrey said. “If they feel the decisions are wrong, you would think that office would appeal them.”

A Target 12 review of records shows the attorney general’s office has not appealed any sex offender classification downgrades in the last year.

Lindbeck said that’s because the legal hurdle to overturn the magistrate’s decision is just too high. She said the way the law is written, the judge makes their decision using intuition and discretion.

“A reasonable basis for appeal would be a factual error by the court,” Lindbeck said. “If the court is to use discretion, that leaves us no available avenue to appeal.”

Tim White ( twhite@wpri.com ) is the Target 12 investigative reporter for WPRI 12 and Fox Providence. Follow him on Twitter: @white_tim