WOWT.com : Order Lifted On Sex Offender Law.
Nebraska's updated -- and controversial -- law regarding the sex offender registry will be allowed to go into effect. A Sarpy County District Court judge Monday morning lifted a stay order that had been granted last week.
The new rules are being challenged in court because, as written, the updated law allows the public posting of personal information about anyone ever convicted of a sex offense. Until now, only people who were classed as level 3 could have their names and addresses posted on the Nebraska State Patrol's website.
A Federal Judge has put on hold two parts of the law. One would have required sex offenders to allow searches of their computers. The other provision would bar sex offenders from accessing certain social networking websites.
Critics of the law argue that people convicted of lesser sex offenses, that might have taken places decades ago, should not be placed on the registry.
They give as an example, a man who may have been convicted at age 19 of having sex with a 15-year-old girlfriend. No matter how many years in the past it may have taken place, and no matter what kind of life the person has lived since, his name can now be published on the sex offender registry in Nebraska.
Critics also note that by flooding the list with names and addresses of people who are NOT likely to re-offend, it greatly diminishes the value of the registry in tracking the sex offenders who ARE considered likely to re-offend.
