A federal database containing personal information on every person in America who gets a job or files an unemployment claim may be used to track sex offenders, according to a report released this week.
The Government Accountability Office in June briefed (PDF) staffers of the House Ways and Means Committee on three possible ways to adapt the National Directory of New Hires to track down sex offenders who fail to update their registration on sex offender registries, or who move from one state to another.
Originally established in 1996 to track down people who fail to pay court-ordered child support payments, the National Directory of New Hires contains data on all new hires, quarterly wage reports and unemployment claims made in the United States. It’s now also used to track down people who fail to pay off student loans, as well as verify claims for unemployment and low-income housing.
While states maintain separate sex offender registries, they are all required to send their data to the National Sex Offender Registry maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which now contains records on over 400,000 convicted sex offenders. But because many sex offenders fail to keep their registrations up to date, the report said, the offenders frequently cannot be located. Law enforcement agencies have turned to motor vehicle records and private commercial databases to locate some sex offenders.
The National Directory of New Hires, however, cannot be used for any purpose not authorized by law. So Congress must authorize a change in the law. GAO presented three possible options for granting law enforcement access to the NDNH database:
The FBI would, in the course of an investigation, request records for specific individuals from the Office of Child Support Enforcement, which maintains the NDNH database. Or, the FBI would be allowed to access data directly from the NDNH database, “either for a specific offender or to pursue an investigation in a particular region.”
The NDNH database would be used directly in order to update records in the National Sex Offender Registry using computerized matching.
Under a hybrid approach, the states would submit information requests to the FBI, which would then look up the sex offenders in the new hires database on their behalf. This would also allow states to locate people who were released from prison before the creation of the sex offender registries.
Any of the approaches would allow law enforcement to locate sex offenders wherever they move in the U.S., even if they don’t update their own entry on the sex offender registry, by tracking where they work — which law enforcement would also learn.
The drawbacks, GAO noted, were that 21 percent of the entries in the sex offender registry don’t have Social Security numbers, complicating automated matching, that the new hires database does not include everyone in the country, such as independent contractors and many self-employed individuals, and that granting “wider access to the NDNH could jeopardize the security and confidentiality of the information it contains.”
The report leaves it to Congress to choose which of the three options for linking the databases it likes best, noting that the costs and benefits of any of the approaches are “uncertain.” But it did recommend that Congress implement the first option, granting FBI the ability to request records from the new hires database, as well as authorizing a test of automated matching between the two databases.
In a response to a draft of the report, Daniel R. Levinson, Health and Human Services Inspector General, noted that the “privacy and security risks” associated with linking the databases “should be analyzed in greater depth.”
Levinson’s response continues: “The proposed use of NDNH data would move the use of NDNH into law enforcement, an entirely new direction, and might tend to increase the risk of privacy and confidentiality breaches. The potential ramifications of wrongful use of NDNH data, as well as inaccurate or outdated addresses, should be considered carefully.”
No one seems to consider, however, whether registering sex offenders — or, for that matter, virtually everyone — is a good idea. It always seems like it at first, but these databases, once compiled, tend to be used for things other than what they were designed and intended for. Then the law of unintended consequences, which no one can break, comes into play.
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ralf
Apr 03, 2007
It is a shame, it is alsways the same argument (the same for germany) people who are against such a database blame it on privacy risks. For shure it is a risk, but could it be really considered as more important than the fight against sex offenders.
Jens
Apr 05, 2007
It is time to break with the past. There are now new possibilities to fight against crime, let’s use them.
socialflea
Apr 06, 2007
Let me get this strait, is all this information stored in the same database? Hypothetically, I could make a payment on my student loans and someone can accidentally make me as a sex offender. Or crash and Microsoft access jumbles up the information and Amy McKellin is on unemployment.
ralph
Jun 26, 2007
The fight against sex offenders? Where did you get that slogan, Hitler?
Liberty
Jul 28, 2007
Hitler is exatly were all of the sex offender law makeup came from. From 1929 to up until the Nazi’s were giveing showers and running the worlds longest burning bonfires. In between those years the Nazi’s devised laws exactly like the Sex Offender laws you see today, exactly! I ask you to research this yourself. the Nazi’s were kind enough to tell the Jews that they were no longer citizens of Nazi Germany and therefore it was perfectly legal to inforce any law the Nazi’s came up with. On the other hand the leaders of our greate nation, deticated to their own well being,ignore the Constitution and Bill of Rights all to gether. Do a little more reserch please. You will find that like a virus, laws after time, alter themselves to fit a new environment. I have found that laws that were first written for sex offenders are now being used against non-sexoffenders.(Wikipedia,under sex offender laws)Good place to start, go from there. The leaders of this great nation lied and lied to the people to get these sex offender laws passed knowing full well that these laws set a precedence.That means they can use these laws as a blue print for other laws like them only against other groups of people. And what about the right to privacy and all those other things written down in the Constitution and the Bill Of Rights, It looks like these two documents are just like the Prirates code in the “Pirates of the Caribbean”. Their more of a guideline than a set of rules. Continuing to allow the leaders of this country to keep passing these types of laws is insane. In the end the american people will pay the price.
Mike
Aug 16, 2007
You got that right Amy. The files are only as good as the people putting the info in. Like in IL where they messed up a friends records and made him a pedophile when the lady who accused him was in accuality 33 years old. Some clerk hit the wrong button. He was unable to see his kids because of this snaffu and the county he was in did not give an dang. They told him that the state does NOT make mistakes. He finally got it straightened out.
fed up
Sep 24, 2007
“The state must declare the child to be the most precious treasure of the people. As long as the government is perceived as working for the benefit of the children, the people will happily endure almost any curtailment of liberty and almost any deprivation.” – Adolph Hitler (Mein Kampf)
StopCriminalGovmnts
Jan 10, 2008
It always cracks me up when people act like keeping Sex Offenders registered matters at all. What a ridiculous crock of BS that most of country has just eaten up!!
Take a brief looks at some facts, people. Registering Sex Offenders is stupid. It’s worthless. If it were only worthless, it wouldn’t be that bad, but of course it is much, much worse than just worthless.
Briefly, here are just some of the benefits that Registering Sex Offenders gives us:
1. Protects no one, children or otherwise.
2. Promotes recidivism.
3. Costs a fortune.
4. Creates a false sense of security.
5. Reduces the likelihood that people will do what is truly effective to reduce sexual offending.
6. Diverts precious, limited resources and attention away from reducing sexual offending.
7. Creates a very large class of people who don’t care at all about being good citizens.
8. Puts all of us in more danger.
9. Enables the idea that people on the Registries are a class of people who regularly (and forever) can and should have their civil rights reduced and trampled upon. Establishes the precedence to do the same to more classes of people.
We (the U.S.A.) are on a very sad, anti-American path.
sex offender.
Feb 11, 2008
these laws are always the same. i’ve seen them drudged up again and again as i’ve been on this wild ride through the system. the only way to stop these type of laws from coming out against everyone and not just “sex offenders” and felons is to band together and tell the federal government that they have to follow the rules written into the constitution otherwise we will end up just like nazi germany. it’s time to stand up and tell these people that they cant keep doing whatever they want whenever they want and however they want. they cant keep rigging elections and passing laws that were never correctly voted in (income taxes), it’s time to get rid of the idiots and the elitist and replace them with real leaders and not just people looking to make a buck and get control. can we please get a R**o**t**n?
Fear
May 16, 2010
What these laws do is hinder ex-offenders who want to live right and try go on with their lives. Society is bombarded with so many horror stories that they will go for any law that is past. The sad thing is that these laws promote discrimation and deny human basics to live; work, a place to live, health interaction. Check it out for yourself… Most employers will not hire sex offender and that also goes for renter. So where is the right of Life and Liberty… not in the USA. And beware you could be next on the chopping block. The next targets may be speeders or drug addicts. How do you expect anyone to live a nrmal life when society won’t let them work or have a place to call home.
PD off
Jun 10, 2010
WE’ERE ALL SEX OFFENDERS
The sex offender registry is total BS!!. If you really think about it, the large majority of us are ALL sex offenders if you go by the way that label is being handed out nowadays……example… If you had sex in middle school or high school with any fellow students,(who hasnt) your a sex offender, if you had sex or had any sexual contact with a high school student while in your late teens early 20′s, your a sex offender, if you’ve ever peed behind the bushes in a public park, your a sex offender, if you’ve ever streaked back in the 60′s or 70′s at a football game or wherever for laughs,in todays standards,your a sex offender,,if you’ve ever had sex in your car with your girlfriend,wife,husband, your a sex offender, if in middle school or in high school you ever text a picture of yourself naked to a fellow student (girlfriend or boyfriend),your a sexual offender, if you’ve ever taken pictures of your kids playing while taking a bath,you could possibly be labled a sex offender today, if as an adult you’ve ever checked out that hot looking teenage girl with the short shorts and great legs, your a potential sex offender,,it goes on and on….We’re ALL sex offenders according to todays sentencing guidlines. I really dont need to know if the 19 year that got arrested for having sexual relations with his 16 year old girlfriend moved in next door..Thats not protecting anyone. Unfortunatly Not everyone you see on that list are pedophiles or rapists,it just could be YOU on there one day.. The registry needs to be totally reformed to where only real child molesters and violent rapists are on the list.
If you really want to make sure your kids won’t be sexually molested, put a camera in YOUR OWN HOUSE!!
Touched
Jun 13, 2010
I like the way you think but you missed one thing. See anyone could be a sex offender. To video your child and catch someone molesting them would make you responsible for producing child porn. Well I know what you mean to catch someone. But depending on who looks at it and what the cops want to do you also could be held. catch 22. But would take a Prosecutor with a will to do that, Humm bet they could find one. Well back to registering all the sex offenders. All this does is drive the family secrets deeper and they aren’t going to tell. 90% of all sex abuse is not reported. and would you report it if you were going to live a like they do.
PD off
Jun 14, 2010
Come to think of it!, we have to register about 99% of all men that ever lived. as recent as our grandparents generation, it was normal for an adult to marry a 14,15 or 16 year old girl and start a family.Sometimes even younger depending on the culture. so lets hit the cemeteries and dig those pervs up, lets get the mug shots,then rebury them. put them on the registry!!. I know for a fact that my grandfather in Italy married grandma when she was 15,he was 24. I think that’s probably the story with mostly anyone’s grandparents no matter the culture. you know what!! Lets dig up Elvis and get his mugshot and throw his ass on the registry, wasn’t Priscilla 14 when he married her when he was in the Army? Hey! while we’re at it,dig up Sonny Bono!he was 28 when he married Cher when she was 16!.. Get the shovels folks! lets dig up the Islam’s Prophet Mohammad. He married Aishatu when she was 9 years old. So all the Muslims are worshiping a sex offender! Forget the shovels , lets hit Hollywood. You grab Don Johnson! I’ll snap the picture for the registry! Melanie Griffith moved in with him when she was 14 and he was 22!!We all know what went on in that damn house!! registry time mister Miami Vice! Holy crap! there’s Rob Lowe! in 1988 he was caught having sex with a 16 year old when he was well into his 20′s!!! St Elmo’s Fire my Ass!! Lets see how many movie deals you’ll get after your on the registry SUCKA!!! Get the point? its ridiculous..we can go on and on. like i said before,reserve the list for pedophiles and violent rapists. and look up the meaning of pedophile please! If you mess around with a 16 year old that doesn’t make you a pedophile. I guaranty you that the same politicians that helped write all these stupid sex offender laws and restrictions, if you put their lives under a microscope, they know dam well that they’d need to be on that list themselves, but it’ll be their little secret wont it?
vicelord
Jun 14, 2010
oh wow! i just did some research, my dad should be a sex offender. i found out that mom was 15 and he was 19 when they got married. dude i think your right. im gona keep doin research lol wana know sumthing? i coulda been on that list too, afew years ago i dated a 15 year old and i was 18!! gulp!
john
May 17, 2011
The Red Cross is willing to hire registered sex offenders. They hired a business coach by the name of Scott Lippitt who is a registered sex offender in Colorado.
http://www.homefacts.com/offender-detail/COX002454182/Scott-Lippitt.html
The Red Cross even provided an online testimonial for Scott Lippitt this registered sex offender to encourage other companies to hire him.
http://www.marsvenuscoaching.com/2010/04/20/client-testimonial-6/