Sex Offender Legislation Clears Another Hurdle 03/01/10 (audio)

Air Date:03/01/2010

By Eryn Clement

The sex offender legislation has cleared another hurdle. All but one of the measures from the packet of bills dealing with sex offenders passed in the House Judiciary committee Monday. Four bills move to the full House for further debate. The measures deal with allowing sex offenders in homeless shelters, reducing the grace period for offenders and solicitation of sex crimes to be added as registerable offenses. Another measure that passed applies out-of-state registry laws to offenders not convicted in the state.

Senate bill 12 provides for a three tiered system in the sex offender registry. This bill has been deferred to Wednesday for a vote which will determine if the bill moves to the House floor. Ryan Kolbeck is with the South Dakota Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. He says while overall Senate bill 12 is a good bill and a good starting point, it needs some work.

“We’re making progress but it’s a small step. This bill could be better to serve the people of South Dakota to show who is a threat and who isn’t. Because we want the list to be full of people who we think are a threat not full of people who committed a bad act or stupid act or made bad decisions twenty years ago that are no longer a threat,” says Kolbeck.

Proponents of Senate bill 12 say an extensive amount of testimony has been heard. Supporters say the way the bill currently stands, it gives sex offenders a fair shot while keeping the state’s citizen’s safe.

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