Lincolnshire Police have removed 72 people from the Sex Offenders Register in the last five years.
Those sentenced to more than 30 months for a sex-related crime can be required to register with police for life.
But in 2010 the Supreme Court ruled offenders should have the opportunity to prove they had reformed and could apply to get their name removed.
Lincolnshire Police said its policies were in line with all forces around the country.
A Freedom of Information request revealed the force received 82 applications between 2017 and 2021.
A spokesperson said: “Each case is assessed individually in consultation with a number of agencies – probation, prison, mental health and the local authority – to see if they hold any information that would prevent the offender being removed from their legal obligations.”
They said the applicant is assessed for “dynamic risk factors” on how likely the person is to reoffend and “protective factors known to be associated with reduced offending” before a decision is taken to remove their name from the register.
Every State’s SORNA rules should be required to have a review process for first time non-predatory registrants to individually apply to be removed from the registry 10 years after completion of prison/probation. The mere fact that most don’t proves the registry exists solely for punishment and re-election snippets.
Even though they are/we’re removed they are still sex offenders they have just been removed from the public list but because of their conviction they are still considered a sex offender by law.
How can they be sex offenders if they’re removed from the register? For BBC to continue labelling them as such is simply sensationalism.
Surprise! There is some commonsense somewhere in the world. There may not be much, but at least it’s a start.