Law Would Identify Sex Offenders On Their Driver's Licenses
HARTFORD, Conn. -- In addition to height, weight, address and willingness to be an organ donor, more driver's licenses across the nation include another piece of information - whether the carrier is a registered sex offender.
It's part of a growing effort by state policy-makers to help police keep better tabs on pedophiles, rapists and others who must sign up with state-run, offender registries and compel them to comply with restrictions on their whereabouts.
Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell this month proposed a new law requiring registered sex offenders to obtain a driver's license or state identification card that includes a code identifying them as a sex offender.
"It just gives the police department another tool, something else they can use," she said.
A similar law took effect in Florida on Aug. 1. In that state, IDs feature the number of each state statute that the offender violated on the bottom right corner.
Other states make the carriers' crimes more clear to an untrained eye. An Oklahoma law that took effect in November calls for driver's licenses and ID cards to display the words "sex offender" in three places. Offenders are required to renew the cards annually.
Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Delaware also have laws requiring registered sex offenders to carry identification that identifies their status, the U.S. Government and Accounting Office said. West Virginia and Kansas both require state ID cards or licenses to include the information, but don't require offenders to obtain the IDs.
In Connecticut, it's uncertain if Rell, a Republican, will succeed in pushing the bill through the Democrat-controlled legislature. Some lawmakers are already suggesting the proposal goes too far and could hamper offenders' efforts to find jobs and housing after leaving prison.
"It's so far-reaching," said Rep. William Dyson, D-New Haven, who has worked to pass legislation that helps ex-offenders reintegrate into society. "We don't put a brand on murderers, people who've killed someone."
Rell said the designation would be as innocuous as the code that identifies if a driver should wear corrective lenses.
I think this is a great idea. I don't remember where I heard it or what state it was in but one state wanted to make sex offenders have a different type of license plate for their car.
Posted by: lpwpd722
The Bish's were trying to pass the law trying get it mandatory for sex offenders to have some type of symbol on their license plate.
Posted by: JMody
So it was just a symbol? Not a different plate? Either way I guess it works.
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