County now has 67 sex offenders on TBI registry
One month after the deadline for all people convicted of sex crimes to list themselves with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s sexual offender registry, the number of convicted sex offenders listed as living in Warren County has doubled, meaning one in every 600 Warren County residents is a registered sex offender.
A total of 67 sex offenders live in Warren County according to the TBI Web site as of Tuesday morning, a number about double from the 34 on the list prior to the enactment of the new law July 1.
The public Web site which lists the offenders, the crimes they committed and their present address, even contains a map overlay where concerned citizens can see their proximity to convicted sex offenders. The listing requirements were recently broadened to include any person convicted of a sex crime. Prior to the change in the law, persons who committed their crimes prior to 1997 were not required to list themselves.
While the listing requirements were strengthened for some, they were relaxed for lesser violators as many persons convicted of statutory rape are no longer required to list themselves. Prior to the new law, statutory rape violators accounted for more than half of the Warren County registry list.
However, the new law now not only lets minor statutory rape convicts avoid a listing but it also allows those formerly on the registry for statutory rape to petition to have their pictures and names removed. Statutory rape convictions of persons who were more than 10 years older than their victims are still required to list themselves in most cases.
With the removal of many statutory rape violators, the list presently contains a large percentage of what is considered ‘violent offenders’ who have committed crimes such as aggravated rape, child rape or sexual battery by an authority figure. Of the 67 on the present list, 63 are male.
The high number of convicted sex offenders along with recent concerns raised by law enforcement as to the fact there is nothing to prevent convicted sex offenders who have flattened their time from being around children has prompted Sheriff Jackie Matheny to get on the phone with local state representatives.
‘We need to have the law changed to protect our children and keep convicted sex offenders away from them,’ said Matheny, noting he hopes something will be done during the next legislative term to restrict sex offenders from going around children.
The sex offender registry can be found at www.tbi.state.tn.us/