Thecrimereport.org : Key Hill Leaders: Extend Sex Offender Law Deadline.
Key Congressional leaders have asked Attorney General Eric Holder to extend by one year the July deadline for states to comply with the 2006 federal sex offender registry law, part of the Adam Walsh Act. No state has been judge in compliance with the law so far and 14 states have been granted extensions. States that fail to follow the law could lose federal anticrime aid. The extension request was made by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA), House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) and Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX).
The lawmakers said that, “Despite significant efforts by many state legislatures, state and other jurisdictional agencies, there have been unforeseen difficulties in implementing the law and significant added costs, which are now even more burdensome in these difficult economic times.” Some states have resisted complying with the federal law because it could conflict with provisions of their own laws on sex offenders.
