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February 15, 2008
MA: SJC: Sex offender registration needs to account for homeless
SJC: Sex offender registration needs to account for homeless
By DENISE LAVOIE Associated Press
02/15/2008
Daily Hampshire Gazette
BOSTON - The state's highest court said Thursday that the Sex Offender Registry Board needs to change its registration form so sex offenders can clearly identify themselves as homeless.
In its ruling, the Supreme Judicial Court said the current registration form is ambiguous and makes it difficult for homeless sex offenders to fulfill stringent registration requirements created by the state Legislature to help authorities track them.
"The current sex offender registration form fails to effectuate the Legislature's express intent because the form does not designate a place where homeless sex offenders may clearly identify themselves so that they can, without penalty, list a homeless shelter as their residence," Justice Roderick Ireland wrote for the court in the 7-0 ruling.
Charles McDonald, a spokesman for the board, said it would comply with the SJC's suggestion to amend the registration form.
The court's ruling came in the case of Angelo Rosado, a Level 3 sex offender who pleaded guilty in 1991 to raping a child under the age of 16.
When Rosado registered at the Boston Police Department in August 2005, he listed his residence as the address of the Pine Street Inn, a homeless shelter. Rosado stayed at the shelter sporadically over the next 90 days.
After the Sex Offender Registry Board mailed him a document at that address and it came back as undeliverable, the board found Rosado had violated his obligation to notify the board at least 10 days before any change in address. He was convicted of violating the registration law for sex offenders.
The SJC overturned that conviction Thursday, disagreeing with state prosecutors who said he had provided false information to the board and failed to report a change of address.
The court noted that the Pine Street Inn uses a lottery system to choose people who can have a bed on any given night and said Rosado's absence from the shelter may have been due to his inability to secure a bed rather than a deliberate choice.
"Because homeless sex offenders, by the very nature of their situation, lack a permanent residence, they have little control over where they live. Here, because the defendant is relying on a lottery system to secure a bed it would be almost impossible to provide ten days' notice," the court said.
The court said it was not, however, asserting that all homeless sex offenders are exempt from complying with the 10-day notice requirement.
Jake Wark, a spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley, said no decision has been made on whether prosecutors would retry Rosado on the registration violation charge.
But Wark said prosecutors would welcome a revised registration form.
"Our primary concern is one of public safety. It may well be a revised form is in order to eliminate any ambiguity," Wark said.
Rosado's lawyer, Andrew Crouch, said Rosado had complied with the strict registration requirements for homeless offenders by initially reporting to the police station every 90 days, and later every 45 days, after the law was made tougher in 2006.
Crouch said he was pleased the court recognized the difficulties faced by homeless offenders who don't know where they will be living from day to day.
"For most individuals who have leases or mortgages, (the 10-day notice of a change of address) is not an arduous process, but for homeless people, it just defies the reality of their situation," Crouch said.
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Posted by lois at February 15, 2008 10:08 AM