The official California website for viewing a list of the state’s 98,000 or so registered sex offenders advises visitors that the registry is best viewed using Netscape 6.1, a browser that was popular in the 1990s and hasn’t been supported since 2008.
Antiquated and unsupported might be a decent summary of what the California Sex Offender Management Board told lawmakers it thinks of the registry, which it claims has grown too large and unwieldy to be effective.
Building on recommendations (pdf) it made in 2010, the board said the state Legislature should stop treating all sex offenders alike, regardless of the seriousness of their crimes. It proposed that only high-risk offenders be kept on the list for life, while others are removed over a period of years. Around 22,000 of the offenders on the list are currently incarcerated.
Around one-third of those on the list are considered moderate- to high-risk. At the high end, that includes kidnappers and violent predators. The low end can include some unfortunate guy busted while urinating against a wall in public or visiting a prostitute. Complete story.