(A) The general assembly hereby determines and declares that it recognizes
and finds all of the following:
(1) If the public is provided adequate notice and information about
offenders and delinquent children who commit sexually oriented offenses or who
commit child-victim oriented offenses, members of the public and communities
can develop constructive plans to prepare themselves and their children for
the offender’s or delinquent child’s release from imprisonment, a prison
term, or other confinement or detention. This allows members of the public and
communities to meet with members of law enforcement agencies to prepare and
obtain information about the rights and responsibilities of the public and the
communities and to provide education and counseling to their children.
(2) Sex offenders and child-victim offenders pose a risk of engaging in
further sexually abusive behavior even after being released from imprisonment,
a prison term, or other confinement or detention, and protection of members of
the public from sex offenders and child-victim offenders is a paramount
governmental interest.
(3) The penal, juvenile, and mental health components of the justice system
of this state are largely hidden from public view, and a lack of information
from any component may result in the failure of the system to satisfy this
paramount governmental interest of public safety described in division (A)(2)
of this section.
(4) Overly restrictive confidentiality and liability laws governing the
release of information about sex offenders and child-victim offenders have
reduced the willingness to release information that could be appropriately
released under the public disclosure laws and have increased risks of public
safety.
(5) A person who is found to be a sex offender or a child-victim offender
has a reduced expectation of privacy because of the public’s interest in
public safety and in the effective operation of government.
(6) The release of information about sex offenders and child-victim
offenders to public agencies and the general public will further the
governmental interests of public safety and public scrutiny of the criminal,
juvenile, and mental health systems as long as the information released is
rationally related to the furtherance of those goals.
(B) The general assembly hereby declares that, in providing in this chapter
for registration regarding offenders and certain delinquent children who have
committed sexually oriented offenses or who have committed child-victim
oriented offenses and for community notification regarding tier III
sex offenders/child-victim offenders who are criminal offenders, public
registry-qualified juvenile offender registrants, and certain other juvenile
offender registrants who are about to be or have been released from
imprisonment, a prison term, or other confinement or detention and who will
live in or near a particular neighborhood or who otherwise will live in or
near a particular neighborhood, it is the general assembly’s intent to
protect the safety and general welfare of the people of this state. The
general assembly further declares that it is the policy of this state to
require the exchange in accordance with this chapter of relevant information
about sex offenders and child-victim offenders among public agencies and
officials and to authorize the release in accordance with this chapter of
necessary and relevant information about sex offenders and child-victim
offenders to members of the general public as a means of assuring public
protection and that the exchange or release of that information is not
punitive.
