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CO: Flaws found in child abuse list.
December 24, 2001
CO: Flaws found in child abuse list
By John Sanko
Data on offenders sometimes incomplete, incorrect, audit says
Colorado's child abuse registry is failing so badly state legislators, auditors and others question whether it can be fixed.
When they checked how reliable the list of child abusers is, auditors found that records:
Lacked the Social Security numbers that would identify suspects in 46,000 cases.
Listed no birth dates for 7,600 suspects.
Failed to record the nature or severity of abuse in 1,200 records.
Left off the date of the incident in 1,300 cases.
Did not include any mention of 305 convicted child abusers.
Missed 19 convicted pedophiles who are listed on the state's sex offender list.
Continue to list 191 individuals as suspects even after they were found not guilty.
A check of 31 reports selected at random found 44 errors, including misspelled names, incorrect Social Security numbers, missing birth dates and errors on the type or severity of abuse.
There is growing concern, even among its most ardent supporters, that the registry isn't doing the job it should.
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Source: © 2001 Rocky Mountain News
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