WA Panel Might Push to Outlaw Sex Offender Community Notifications

The WA State Sex Offender Policy Board was created by the legislature at the request of Gov. Inslee in 2008, and coming in 2024 it is possible they might make some of their most controversial recommendations yet.  If the ideas in a draft proposal are sent to the legislature in 2024 and passed, notifications like this one pictured (from Grant County) would go away.

  Policy board considering doing away with public sex offender notifications

The board held its latest meeting and is considering some eye-opening policies. Community Safety, Justice, & Reentry Committee Chair Roger Goodman is behind or the primary force behind these ideas. According to information shared by The Center Square and Seattle-based talk show host Ari Hoffman,  There are some officials who wish to do away with community notifications about sex offenders when they move into neighborhoods.

According to a tentative draft proposal, which not all the members of the Policy Board have been made aware of, public notifications undermine public safety:

“The result, convincingly documented, is that these laws actually undermine public safety, the exact opposite of what lawmakers and the public so confidently assume they accomplish.”

This argument claims public safety is undermined when law enforcement issues bulletins about sex offenders who, upon having completed their complete sentences and jail time, move into neighborhoods.

Some of these offenders are considered Level 3, which in WA state means they are considered likely to re-offend. Level 1 is the lowest, and Level 2 is considered moderate.

This report suggests offender registries should also not be made public, but only available to law enforcement. The draft report also makes other controversial suggestions concerning sex offenders in WA state.

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Currently, there are numerous websites where citizens can find out how many registered sex offenders live on their streets or in their community.  If these recommendations are passed onto the legislature, it is very possible they could be pushed through.  To read this report for yourself, click here. Also, if these changes are made into law, it will make the many sex offender tracking websites obsolete in WA.