OR: High Risk is Not Necessarily High Risk Forever
OK. If the title sounds familiar, it’s because I “borrowed” it from the landmark study by Hanson, Harris, ET AL. that was titled, “High-risk sex offenders may not be high risk forever”, but it fit here nicely.
A case filed earlier this month in Oregon, M.H. v. Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision, challenges how the state retroactively classifies individuals on the sex offender registry.
The case centers on people who completed their sentences decades ago and have lived offense-free in the community, but were only recently subjected to Oregon’s modern risk classification system. The plaintiff, M.H., completed his sentence in the 1990s and built a stable, law-abiding life. In 2024, the state classified him for the first time and assigned him a Level III (highest risk) designation.
The lawsuit argues that the classification system is fundamentally flawed because it ignores decades of rehabilitation and offense-free behavior, relying instead on a rigid methodology that overstates risk. As a result, individuals like M.H. are allegedly systematically misclassified at higher risk levels, leading to severe consequences, including public stigma and significant economic harm. In other words, registrants live law-abiding lives for decades, then with no change in circumstances on their part, the state changes their classification criteria and suddenly they are subjected to higher tier requirements.
At its core, the issue is whether Oregon’s classification process violates due process and fairness principles by failing to account for real-world evidence of rehabilitation and by imposing life-altering labels long after sentences have been completed.
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I thought tiers were supposed to make the registry more fair and efficient. Predictions that they are anything but were not surprising. For one, making the registry more fair and efficient is about as likely as making water less wet. For another, the goal (even if possible) would require the government to act with some modicum of sensibility, which has been shown time and again to simply not happen.
But the biggest problem with a tiered registry as I see it is that it at least tacitly holds that the registry is a useful, critical public safety tool. And after 30+ years, there is absolutely no evidence anywhere that it is.
Like us in Florida for life with low chances of being removed. AND, retroactively at that. I and others did not agree to that at sentencing and for myself and some others, there was not even a registry when we were sentenced. If I had known that was going to happen (The registry) I would not have plead guilty and made them give me a trial. It might not have change anything but maybe I could have gotten a better deal.
Living life in a World where we have almost no end date for being free is insane. 1000s of people are murdered in the U.S every year, and those murderers once released, for the most part are free to move on with their lives if they stay out of trouble, (Or at least don’t get caught again).
And other than those on probation, who has cops coming to their house 2 to 4 times a year, and some have stated they even get more than that for check ins, all the while not being on probation.
And closing, why is the supreme court so scared to give those of us relief who either are 20 years off probation or those who were not even on the registry until years after their sentences, retroactively. I bet if a judge, a prosecutor or a law makers kid was facing the registry, I bet they would find a way to weasel out of it for their family member.
And I am pretty sure we have gone over the 100,000 mark for registered persons in the U.S by now.
Over 900,000 on the registry
I do not know when the registry started, but in Florida, I was in the very first batch when it started in 1997. I was just a few days of being released when I got the notification that the registry would be starting.
The first thing I had to do once home, was to go register. It was so new that the sheriff’s officer I reported to were not really sure what they were doing. It entailed a 2-hour interrogation. Once I got off probation, I moved to the county I live in now (Have been in this 2nd county now for 20 years) and had zero issues.
The lines are long but it is one and done and you are out until the next registration. If not doing so, I ask everyone to do what I do and write down on your yearly calendar, phone and computers to remind you to not forget. Once you miss a month, you are basically screwed. I have had several dreams where I woke up thinking I had missed registration. What a hassle to live that way. And no matter how long the line is, I always go the first day I can register to get it out of the way and make sure it is completed and not wait till the last day.
The system needs to at least be updated. Maybe for those who have not re-offend could at least get once a year registration? If not, with so many people registering, there is going to be a breaking point in the system as more people are arrested and put on the registry.
We offer a free registration reminder service that texts you a reminder during your registration months.
Yes! When I first got here, there was no classification system. I registered and I was told that I wouldn’t hear anything from them ever again. Just make sure to come in once a year to update your address then I got a letter in the mail saying that I was gonna be classified and this was six years after I got here I called the board of parole who is conducting the interview and asked them about that and it sounded a lot like what I was got in New Jersey in New York so I was actually happy to hear from them because I thought I was going to get a letter in the mail showing my classification and here six years after the fact, they’re finally getting to me fortunately and I’m wondering if it was because I made that phone call, they placement a level one which was one level lower than what New Jersey had me on in New York so I was taking off the Internet except in New York because they don’t take anybody out of the Internet but yes, I also know of other registrants who were level one and then 50 years later they’re a level three and it doesn’t make any sense at all because they were fine this whole time and nothing happened so hopefully this gets taken down. I don’t know what they’re going to do because they’re so backlogged anyway so they’re not really gonna be able to classify anybody except maybe the people who are a part of the lawsuit they’re also working on a law here to get rid of the deadline to have everybody classified because it’s just not working