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Missouri’s Sex Offender Registry Is Overcrowded

October 5, 2012 Crime, Featured, Missouri, Politics/Policy 11 Comments

One might think the Missouri Sex Offender Registry would be a useful tool when determining where to buy a house, or let your kid walk to school.  Think again! Legislators tried earlier this year to change the requirements so the registry would have fewer listed and be more helpful to the rest of us:

Currently, Missouri has more than 12,000 people on its sex offender registry. Crimes range from extreme rape cases to consensual sex with minors. The new law could cut as many as 5,000 people in its first year and 1,000 people each year after, according to a fiscal study. 

Rep. Rodney Schad, R-Versailles, argued that public opinion has pushed the registry too far – adding people who are not threats to society – so that it’s no longer effective. (stltoday.com)

ABOVE: Registered sex offenders around Chesterfield’s city hall, blue dots represent work address and red represent home address.

JOPLIN, MO– An effort to change the makeup of the Missouri Sex Offender Registry misses the deadline. House Bill 1700 was approved by state representatives, but failed to come to a vote in the senate. The measure would have created a tiered system for sex offenders. It also would have removed some convictions from the list. Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder says the issue will likely return in the 2013 session. (source)

A person on the registry that had consensual sex with his minor girlfriend contacted me about the need to change Missouri’s law, I was shocked as I researched it. This “Romeo and Juliet” scenario is a common reason for ending up being labeled a sex offender, which greatly hampers employment prospects. Missouri’s age of consent is 17 so consensual sex between a 16 year old female and a 21 year old male is 2nd Degree Rape per Missouri statutes.

I searched for many addresses throughout the region and everywhere blue (work) and home (red) dots appeared. A dot nearby doesn’t mean your loved ones are in danger — the offender could just be someone that didn’t realize he was just a bit too old for his girlfriend — in Missouri. In other states the age of consent might be younger, or older, than Missouri.

You want to know about the Michael Devlin’s, not a young man that got caught with his girlfriend months before she’d have been legal.

– Steve Patterson

  • http://twitter.com/TomLeb T-Leb

    Hey, there is no such thing as consensual sex with a minor, that is called rape.

    • JZ71

      No one is arguing that, in the case of alleged consensual sex with a minor, that a crime technically has occurred and that there should be consequences. The issues are punishment and recidivism. What danger does someone pose 10, 15, 25 or 40 years later? Are they still a threat to society? Not every crime is equal or equally horrific. PO’ed dad wanting to prosecute the boyfriend is completely different than a creepy uncle or stepdad having multiple encounters. Many people do stupid things when they’re young, yet some people think that some (all) crimes deserve a life sentence. Yes, do the crime and do the time. But most people do learn and most don’t repeat (and even more don’t even get caught and end up in the judicial system). I want to know about (and ostracize) the true pervs. I really don’t care if someone did something truly stupid as a teenager or a young adult (unless THEY want to disclose it) IF they’re not going to do it again. Or, using this logic, someone caught drinking underage should never be allowed to purchase alcohol or someone convicted of a DUI should never be allowed to drive again. We can’t lock everybody up forever and not everyone is a monster. None of us is perfect . . . .

      • moe

        You’re right JZ….there are different levels of sexual encounters. Those that molest/kill should be on the top of the list, those bf/gf, doctor/nurse situations not so. And lets be clear…there are many females on the list as well. It’s a shame when parents feel they can screw up someone’s life forever because they don’t like who their child is seeing or didn’t raise their child with some self-respect. Or kids can conversely screw up an adult’s life because they didn’t like a grade they got or some discipline they needed.

    • Al Fickensher

      Hey, 14year old boys and girls pretty regularly “play” with each other, a law that considers that rape is stupid and so would be the enforcers of it.

    • http://urbanreviewstl.com/ Steve Patterson

      The age of consent is an arbitrary number that varies from state to state.

  • Fozzie

    The whole idea of a sex offender registry is offensive. What’s next: DUI registries? Assault registries? The concept is too Big Brother for me.

    • http://urbanreviewstl.com/ Steve Patterson

      I support it for “predators” but the list has grown so massive it is useless.

  • RyleyinSTL

    Great… because of this post I now know the guy down the street raped a 21 year old woman at knife or gunpoint in 2001. The problem is that I will have to punch him in the face if he ever talks to my wife again. I think perhaps there is some information I just don’t want to know. Other than getting myself arrested for beating up scumbags I’m not really sure what I can do with this information. Can I use it to remove these people from my community or make flyers so that other husbands on the street can have their fists ready? ….I suspect not.

    • http://www.facebook.com/naffziger Chris Naffziger

      All knowledge is power.

  • Gsgates

    I’d offer that anyone saying that a 21 year old having sex with a 16 year old is “consensual” doesn’t have a daughter at home. Leave those perverts on there.

  • http://www.facebook.com/naffziger Chris Naffziger

    I’ve heard that too, is it true? If it is, then that is clear example of overreaching.

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