Criminal Justice May Get New Legislation Against Convicted Sex Offenders

Criminal Justice May Get New Legislation Against Convicted Sex Offenders

"Personal lawyers for sexual predators, be aware, protection from sexual assault and abuse are the focus of Anchorage Representative Pete Petersen as he introduced his Child Protection Legislation. It is House Bill 278, “An Act allowing as a condition of probation for a defendant convicted of certain sex offenses a prohibition against the defendant’s residing at a residence where outdoor recreational equipment suitable for use by children under 16 years of age is located on the property.” Tuesday, January 17, 2012, it was read and then was referred to the Judiciary Committee.

This legislation will mainly focus on prohibiting sex offenders, especially convicted sex offenders on parole, from committing another sexual assault by disallowing them to reside “at a residence where outdoor recreational equipment suitable for use by children under 16 years of age is located on the property”.

“We need to make sure judges have the tools they need to keep Alaskan children safe,” said Rep. Petersen. “If a person has done this type of thing before, or if the judge has reason to believe a potential repeat-offender might use these toys to lure children into harm, then we need to give our justice system the power to stop them.”

Included in the Alaska Law is the power to allow judges the discretion to require convicted sex offenders out on parole to refrain from committing the following: communicating with children less than 16 years of age, possessing or using a computer as well as using or creating an internet site, and residing within 500 feet away from a school.

One valuable tool for keeping your distance from sex offenders is the State of Alaska Sex Offender/Child Kidnapper Registration Central Registry . The State of Alaska has nearly three-thousand names listed in the Alaska Central Registry for sex offenders, seventy-four of those are non-compliant with the law that says that they must keep their addresses up to date on the registry. In the last couple of months, Alaska State Troopers have arrested non-compliant offenders for just this little detail that the sex offenders have not kept up with."