WASHINGTON — Amid a wave of legal challenges to such laws, Atty. Gen. Janet Reno pressured states on Friday to require sex offenders and child molesters to notify police of their whereabouts for at least 10 years after their release from prison.
Under a provision of the anti-crime law enacted last year, Reno proposed minimum standards for state notification laws. The anti-crime legislation provides that states failing to enact notification laws that meet the standards within three years could lose up to 10% of their Byrne anti-crime grants.
The Byrne grants, distributed to states by formula, total $450 million this fiscal year. For small states, the 10% cut could cost them about $200,000; in the largest states, the penalty could reach $2 million.
"This law is about peace of mind," Bonnie Campbell, director of the Justice Department's Violence Against Women Office, told a news conference. "Parents, children and women everywhere need to know that local police are notified when child molesters and sex offenders are released from prison."
Campbell acknowledged that 40 states have some kind of notification law for sex offenders, but she said they vary widely; they often require offenders to register their location only once.
