Should NC sex offenders pay to be on registry?
RALEIGH — Sex offenders would have to pay an annual fine to be listed on the state’s sex offender registry under a bill proposed by N.C. Rep. Ted Davis, R-New Hanover.
“There is a cost to continuing to have them on that registry,” Davis said. “The point of this is to get revenue to keep these people on the sex offender registry.”
House Bill 684 calls for sex offenders to pay an initial and annual fee of $90 to be on the registry. The money would be directed to county sheriff’s offices to offset the costs associated with registering sex offenders, according to the bill.
Failure to pay the fee does not mean a registered sex offender isn’t listed on the registry — the state attorney general’s office could sue to collect unpaid fees, according to the bill.
Many states require fees to be listed on the registry. In Tennessee, for example, the fee is $150 per year.
Cristina Becker, criminal justice debt fellow for the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina (ACLU), said the bill could amount to adding an additional burden to someone who has served their jail term, serves on probation, lives under the restriction of the sex offender registry and is already facing a host of other fees associated with their conviction.
“It can become a perpetual form of punishment,” she said of an annual fee. Becker said that because many released offenders “are indigent, their probationary periods can be extended for as long as they owe money.”
Davis said he doesn’t the view the bill as having an additional punishment aspect.
“Yes, they may have served their time, but they are a sex offender and the state needs additional funds” to pay for the registry, he said. “To me, it all goes back to a funding source.”
But Becker said the bill could have the opposite outcome.
“It’s very likely that a proposal like this would be a financial loss for the state, because of all the resources spent trying to collect yet another fine from a group of people who are disproportionately low-income,” she said. “Many of these offenders already have to pay the cost of satellite-based monitoring and other court fees. Slapping them with yet another fine they might not be able to pay won’t make our communities safer, but it could very well end up becoming a burden on taxpayers.”
The bill has passed a first reading and was referred to the House Judiciary and House Finance committees.
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“Davis said he doesn’t the view the bill as having an additional punishment aspect.”
another person see the list as punishment
Note to self: Don’t move to NC…..however, here in Duval we have to pay $25 every time we register, so essentially paying $50 to be on registry each year…….there’s a guy on here who’s ID name is “I can’t wait to die.” That about sums it up for me. It’s a never ending, unwinnable battle with these idiots. No one is gonna totally reverse everything in place for SO’s (residency, fines, probation, etc…, etc…. ) Yeah it’s gloom and doom, but such is our reality. Sorry.
This has been implemented in several states and it is one of the most ridiculous and frightening things they have done concerned RSOs. How about the general public pay extra for it? They seem to be the ones that want it…..let them pay for it….how about a view and search charge for everyone that checks it for their neighborhood? Or a monthly charge for on-going notices every time a new RSO moves in?
No, every registrant should not pay. Get locked up and violate terms of Registry. Now, once locked up timed served will justify payment to the courts and you can sue from jail. They have to let you out for time served so therefore no fee will be necessary. The first registrant that pays, then its a done deal. The homeless, indigent, fixed income poor registrant should never have to be forced to pay any court anything after you have served your sentence. JEV
I find it incredulous that fines or fees cannot be seen as additional punishment not included in the sentence set forth by a judge or jury.
Another example that one does not have to have an ounce of common sense to serve in government. When the sentence affixed by the judge is completed the debt is paid just as it would be with any other felony. This legislator obviously wants to add to the ‘problem’ since the registries have already proven to not serve a valuable purpose. Is this legislator getting his advice from a ‘cereal box’?
But like you said in another post, in Florida our debt is never paid. In my sentence, the judge and DA did not see me as a threat. I am not on GPS, I was not required to move, no prison time, and the judge withheld adjudication on all counts. So in 2 more years, I am a free man, except for the life-long punishment of being on the registry.
That means difficulty in getting jobs, not being able to freely travel, not being able to go to parks, concerts, plays, or other public areas, not being able to ride my bike or jog along the roads, not being able to join gyms in my area, not being able to live where ever I would like to live, not being able to have a security gate without the sheriff having the code, not being able to buy and sell vehicles without reporting within 48 hours every time I do it, not being able to attend government meetings, not being able to freely travel to other states or countries, etc. etc etc.
This is nothing short of government/bureaucratic criminality.
Actually, a more accurate term would be Legislative Vigilantism.