PALISADE, Colo. – In a move designed to encourage compliance from offenders, the town of Palisade has lowered the fees associated with registering as a sex offender.
The decision to lower the fee from $75 a year to $25 a year was made earlier this month by the Board of Trustees, Denver7 news partner KJCT reported.
The Palisade Police Department asked the board to lower the fee on behalf of offenders, who may be dissuaded to register because of the financial burden.
The reduction of fees is not expected to have much of a financial impact on the Mesa County town because of its relatively low number of registered offenders.
Registration can become very expensive for Colorado offenders. The fee in Denver is $75 for the initial registration and an additional $25 each time an offender is required to register annually or quarterly.
Its beyond me why people have to pay anything in the first place. Its pretty much extortion in that they’re making you pay for something or face a punishment. Never-mind people who have to register for life. You’re basically telling them they must pay the government a fee for the rest of their life for breaking the law. Does any other crime carry such a burden?
Let’s save MORE money. Just get rid of whole registry thing.
An article of this nature reminds me that the SORs are unconstitutional on many levels. Of particular our constitution only provides for two levels of government in the American system. Federal and state government are the only two provided by that document. That the Whetterling act ( 94OMNIBUS) recognised a third, local jurisdiction clearly falls outside that constitutional limitation and provides reason enough to not permit it. This too is an example of ever expanding levels of government expansion which usually tend to restrict liberty.
You pay a “fee” for a service. This is a fine, plain and simple!