Failure to Register. The punishment for an oversight is worse than the actual crime.

Forgetting to register or not knowing all registration requirements can carry a much harsher penalty than the underlying crime.

This was the harsh and heartbreaking lesson learned by D**** V******, who was convicted in 1991 of a sex offense in Florida.  At the time, V****** had been given probation.

In the over two decades since his offense, he went on to get married and have three sons.  He has not had a single offense before or since the one in 1991. Even for that offense he never spent a day in jail.

Fast forward 23 years and Mr. V****** had moved to Pennsylvania, where he was peacefully living. This past December, Pennsylvania law changed and imposed a requirement that he register with the State police. Not knowing about the new law, Mr. V****** was arrested and is facing a mandatory sentence of three years in prison unless he takes it to trial or accepts a plea to nine months.

He chose to take the plea instead of risking the long prison sentence.

“I cannot take a chance on three years,” V***** said “I have a 13-year-old who I don’t want to see end up like the 18- and 19-year-olds I’ve seen here (in prison).” “My wife is now on food stamps and welfare… all because I didn’t know this thing passed in December.”

When laws change, nobody circulates an update. The State of Florida hasn’t sent around a memo notifying the 70,000+ registrants that effective October, they will need to register every car in the household (regardless of whether they drive it) or bring their passport to registration. They put the burden on the registrants to keep monitoring the laws or prophetically know that something has changed.

A three year mandatory prison sentence for “failure to register” should be reserved for those cases where an individual intentionally evades registration, not when it’s the result of innocently forgetting or being unaware of a change in the law.

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