Panel discusses sex-offender registry

AUSTIN (KXAN) - The Senate Committee on Criminal Justice met at the Texas State Capitol to hear public and invited testimony regarding the efficiency and fairness of the current sexual offender registry system, as well as the issue of compliance with the Adam Walsh Act .

Nationally, the Adam Walsh Act calls for mandatory registration of sex offenders ages 14 and older and was passed in 2006, creating a nationwide network for sex offender registration.
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"We recommend that we not implement the Adam Walsh Act in the State of Texas," said Liles Arnold, chairman of the Texas Council on Sex Offender Treatment . "Basically, the research on registration notification, to date, suggests that it's really not accomplishing what we want it to accomplish,. Which is, fundamentally increasing community safety by reducing sex offender recidivism, making the public aware of where dangerous individuals were, and be better able to protect themselves and protect their children."

Arnold said notification has no bearing on people who have never been apprehended for a sexual offense.

"As of May of last year, we had 57,000 registered sex offenders in the state of Texas. All of those people are not equally dangerous."