Most States Find Joining National Sex Offender Database Not Cost-Effective
Most States Find Joining National Sex Offender Database Not Cost-Effective
Less than a third of all U.S. states are complying with the federal law intended to protect children from sex offenders, with most states choosing not to invest in sharing their information with Washington.
Congress adopted the so-called Adam Walsh Act in 2006 that established a national sex offender registry and required states to report the names and locations of convicted child molesters to the federal government. The purpose of the database was to make it more difficult for sex offenders to avoid apprehension by moving from state to state.
To date, only 16 states have signed the law, even though the legislation mandated the entire country do so by 2011. Last year, the Obama administration issued new guidelines to encourage more cooperation from states in implementing the act; the move helped a dozen states become compliant.
Many states continue to view the Adam Walsh Act as an unfunded mandate requiring them to spend millions of dollars to collect sex-offender information, which means using their own limited resources on new equipment, such as technology to gather digital fingerprints, palm prints and DNA.
http://www.allgov.com/Controversies/ViewNews/Most_States_Find_Joining_National_Sex_Offender_Database_Not_Cost_Effective_120108
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