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SALT LAKE CITY — Amendments to HB16 would allow those who have been charged with crimes like voyeurism or "enticing a minor" to be dropped from the Sex Offender Registry in five years instead of 10.
"Almost everyone is the legislature knows someone in this situation and has been asked to please do something about it," said Rep. Jack Draxler, R-North Logan.
For the past five years, Draxler has been trying to make amendments to get sex offenders charged with lesser crimes off the list quicker than other sex offenders with more serious crimes. Right now there are two registries in Utah: a lifetime and a 10-year registry.
"Many of them are now married and some have children. As long as they are on the registry, they may not take their children to a public park, they may not go with their children to a parent-teacher conference," Draxler said.
Currently in Utah, there are 7,393 offenders. Of those, 3,392 are on the list for life. If the amendments were approved, it would only apply to approximately 90 offenders on the 10-year list.
Related:
Bill would require IT workers to report child pornography
A Utah lawmaker wants computer technicians to face jail time if they don't immediately report child pornography they discover on someone's computer."In both cases, the misdemeanor violations usually mean there has been no contact with the victim. They were probably caught in a police sting," Draxler said.
But Alana Kindness with the Utah Coalition on Sexual Assault said she questions the intentions of why there needs to a change at all.
"If the offender is looking to just wipe away any record that this ever happened and pretend that it didn't happen, that might look a little differently and the offender was willing to acknowledge what they have done and take some accountability for that," Kindness said. "Very often, there were other offenses that might've been part of the charges that were dismissed as part of the plea agreement and also just knowing what someone is charged with doesn't give us a good indication of what their potential risk for reoffense is."
The amendments passed the House Committee unanimously Tuesday and is now moving to the House floor.
