Heyl: Some Sex Offender Names Soon Could Vanish From Online State Registry

PITTSBURGH, PA - When Patch recently published maps showing where registered sex offenders live in various Pittsburgh communities, the effort was praised on various social media platforms where they ended up being shared.

Not everyone was pleased, however.

The people at the National Association For Rational Sex Offense Laws, an organization I didn’t know existed, sent me several critical emails and criticized the Patch practice nationally of informing readers as to where sex offenders reside.

That the information I obtained is public and available to anyone on Pennsylvania’s Megan’s Law website was irrelevant. In a letter to Patch editors posted Thursday, the organization said that publishing the sex offender locator maps so close to Halloween was “pointless” and constituted “fear-mongering.”

I wondered if people who live in the communities I mapped shared those sentiments. So I put the entire association statement on a Brookline Facebook page and posed this question: “Do you believe the names and addresses of your local sex offenders should have been posted?”

A majority of those who responded from Brookline, where 10 registered sex offenders live, replied affirmatively.

“Hell yes,” one man wrote. “I think they should have to place a sign in there yard. In plain view for the public to see.”

“WITHOUT A DOUBT!” a woman posted. Still another correctly noted, as I just did, that the information easily is obtainable online.

The sentiments weren’t unanimous. One man said he was uncertain about the posting.

“It depends on what the person did,” he wrote. “For example, two minors have consensual sex. Both end up on the sex offenders list. Why? Because the law is stupid.”

From the results of this admittedly unscientific undertaking, people seem to have a desire to know where sex offenders dwell in their community. But in Pennsylvania, the names of some registered sex offenders soon could vanish from the Megan’s Law registry because the National Association for Rational Sex Offense Laws has an ally in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

In July, the court issued a ruling that could result in a number of sex offenders’ names being removed from the registry. The justices ruled in favor of Jose Muniz of Cumberland County, convicted of two counts of indecent assault of a 12-year-old girl in 2007.

A portion of the Supreme Court decision was that the existing registration requirement constitutes a “form of punishment.” How so?

When 2012 registry reporting rules were expanded, Muniz went from being required to be on it for 10 years to being on it for life. The court ruled the new reporting rules could not be applied retroactively.

A spokesman for the Pennsylvania State Police, which runs the Megan’s Law website, said the ruling will "undoubtedly impact" management of the registry. But it’s too soon to determine how many offenders will be removed.

When names begin dropping off the list, the people at the National Association for Rational Sex Offense Laws undoubtedly will be happy.

They probably won’t be nearly as pleased in Brookline.

Eric Heyl is Patch’s Pittsburgh field editor. Reach him at 412-334-4033 or Eric.Heyl@Patch.com.

Photo via Pixabay.