Information on Utah's 4,700 convicted sex offenders is now available on the Internet.
As of Thursday morning, the Department of Corrections sex offender registry, which can be accessed through the Corrections Web site www.udc.state.ut.us, contains a convicted sex offender's photo, address, birth date, known aliases, current vehicles, sex offense convictions and targets.
And within the next couple of months, corrections officials expect to add information on each sex offender's method of operations. The method of operations will include data such as "does he like to stalk little girls at shopping malls, does he like little boys," corrections spokesman Jack Ford said.
The updated list contains information on men and women convicted of everything from misdemeanor lewdness to first-degree felony rape or sodomy.
"What it's designed for is merely information so that the public can access it more easily," said Jesse Gallegos, corrections director of community relations. "Prior to it being on the Web site, people were calling the department. It just makes it much easier."
Current Utah law requires all sex offenders to be listed on the database for 10 years after termination of their sentences. In August, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Legislature's 1998 amendments that expanded the law to include sex offenders on the registry who completed their sentences and probation prior to July 1998.
Following the court's ruling, corrections officials had been working furiously to update the Web site with information on all of Utah's sex offenders. Before the court's ruling only 400-plus sex offenders were listed on the registry.
"We have had 17 people sitting over computer terminals entering data, and we have had as many as 200 Adult Probation and Parole agents out looking for offenders who've refused to apply," Ford said. "There's 300 or 400 that we still haven't got full pictures on."
Offenders who refuse to update their information could be charged with a class A misdemeanor or, at the very least, a parole violation, Gallegos said.
One reason for the more than three-month delay was the trouble corrections officials had integrating various computer programs which contained offender information. Finding their method of operation has been the most difficult task, Ford said.
"That data is not in a database that can be filed," Ford said. "It has to be manually entered. We have to pull up the charging document or the sentencing report."
Corrections officials plan to update the registry at least twice a week.
But Ford said his office has also been inundated with calls from groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and family members of offenders who are upset such information is so easily accessible to the public. Some prisoner rights' groups have complained the registry will subject offenders who are trying to move on with their lives to further ridicule and shame.
"I had one woman call me who said she didn't even know her husband was a sex offender," Ford said.
Corrections officials acknowledge such registries in other states have been used to harass sex offenders. Utah's site, however, contains a disclaimer before you can access the registry that warns users "Information compiled in this registry may not be used to harass or threaten sex offenders or their families. Harassment, stalking, or threats are prohibited and doing so may violate Utah criminal law."
The Utah Sentencing Commission Wednesday elected not to recommend the names of people convicted of aggravated kidnapping with the intent to commit a sexual offense be added to the registry.
Commission members, who have debated the proposed legislation since October, said they want to know how many aggravated kidnapping cases are prosecuted each year before they make such a recommendation.
Critics of the proposal question how a convicted kidnapper's "intent to commit a sexual offense" would be determined.
Staff attorney Ron Gordon said next year the commission is likely to consider adding other crimes — not sexual offenses per se, but crimes that may be sexually motivated — to the registry.
"We're aware of their discussions and we will support what the commission is recommending," Gallegos said.
Ford also said a separate database listing all convicted criminals in Utah, their crimes and release dates should be up and running sometime after the new year.
Contributing: Maria Titze
E-mail: djensen@desnews.com