themaneater.com (University of Missouri,Columbia) - Mo. legislature considers sex offender amendment ; the registry would include offenders who committed crimes before 1995.
A constitutional amendment approved by the Missouri Senate on Thursday will add about 5,000 sex offenders onto the sex offender registry, according to a news release from the office of Sen. Jason Crowell's, R-Cape Girardeau.
The new resolution would add 4,800 Missouri sex offenders who committed crimes before 1995 to the registry, Senate Majority Caucus spokeswoman Farrah Fite said. Fite said senators voted 32-1 approving the amendment. Fite said Missouri law states sex offenders who committed crimes before Jan. 1, 1995, are not required to register their address with state authorities and do not have restrictions on where they can live.
"Many sex offenders who committed crimes before 1995 will live with the same regulations sex offenders after 1995 have," Fite said. (Retroactive "ex post facto" legislation is a violation of the U.S. Constitution, folks)
Senate Joint Resolution 3 would give voters the power to uphold the original intent of Megan's Law, which went into effect in 1995, requiring all convicted sex offenders register with local sheriff's departments, the release stated.
Fite also said this constitutional amendment is retroactive by including people who committed sexual crimes before the sex registry was created. (Retroactive "ex post facto" legislation is a violation of the U.S. Constitution, folks)
Text of Senate Resolution 3:
"Section 13. That no ex post facto law, nor law impairing the obligation of contracts, or retrospective in its operation, or making any irrevocable grant of special privileges or immunities, can be enacted; however, a law may be retrospective in its operation with respect to requiring sexual offenders to register with law enforcement, restricting sexual offenders from residing within a certain distance of a school or child-care facility, as required by law, or requiring every individual who pleads guilty or nolo contendere to or is found guilty or convicted of a felony to have a biological sample collected for purposes of DNA analysis."
In other words, the Constitution applies to everyone, except sex offenders!
