CO: Colorado Fights To Keep Sex Offender Registry.

May 31, 2002

DENVER -- Colorado is taking the lead in the battle to keep sex offender registration laws on the books.

This fall the U.S Supreme Court will determine the constitutionality of an Alaskan law requiring sexual offenders to be registered with local police.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Alaska's registry as unconstitutional and double punishment.

Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar said Friday that Colorado will work with 42 other states to make sure the Alaska law and other sex offender laws around the country are upheld.

"If the United States Supreme Court were to decide that the Alaska registration and notification system is unconstitutional, than many parts of our law here in Colorado would fall by the wayside as unconstitutional," Salazar said.

Salazar and 42 other state attorneys filed a brief on Friday with the Supreme Court supporting Alaska's challenge to the appellate court ruling.

Colorado's registry names 7,647 sex offenders. Of those, pictures and personal information of 166 offenders are posted on the Internet. An additional 175 sex offenders are posted on the Internet for failing to register.

Alaska's law, modeled after New Jersey's pioneering "Megan's Law," allows the public to track known sex offenders. Like Colorado law, it requires lifetime registration with quarterly updates. Both states also post the names and pictures of some sex offenders on the Internet.

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Source: © 2002 The Denver Channel