An online newsletter for the rental property management community.  Another service from Rental Research Services, Inc.

A headline of a large newspaper in California led off with “California Loses 33,000 Sex Offenders”.  In Minnesota it is discovered that when a Level 3 sex offender moves in from another state, that the public is not told.  While Minnesota is busy rewriting it’s law, what about all the lost sex offenders in California?

 

Actually, it’s not just California that is the problem.  It is a national problem that was supposed to be addressed by Megan’s Law (named after a young girl that was raped and murdered by a tenant neighbor).  Megan’s Law created databases that were supposed to help the public and police keep track of these offenders.  The problem, as described by Laura Ahearn, executive director of Parents for Megan’s Law, is “We’re expecting sex offenders to be reporting their addresses.”  Experts from across the nation state that sex offender databases are falling short of their promises.  Charles Onley, a research associate with the Center for Sex Offender Management says “it can give you a false sense of security”

 

While a sex offender risks being returned to prison for up to three additional years for failing to register, the fact is that a full 44% of California’s sex offenders (33,000) have not registered their new addresses.  Perhaps that is because they have moved out of state?

 

Criminals of all types tend to move from the state where the offense occurred, because they know that by doing so agencies will have a hard time finding out about their history.  You should look at how you are conducting your screening efforts to make sure that the information includes sex offenders from around the nation.  Without a large multi-state database screening effort you may end up approving a sex offender for  tenancy.

 

Nationally 52% of sex offenders are arrested for new crimes within three years of leaving prison (according to the U.S. Justice Dept.).  Not a very comforting thought!

 

Our Internet Instant Inquiry includes a 43 state sex offender search every time you screen your applicants.  We gather our information from multiple sources to add to the level of information available.  In most cases, if you get a match, you will be looking at a color mug shot of the offender.

 

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