Serving as Massachusetts state auditor doesn’t just mean reviewing finances. A big part of my role, as I often speak about with folks across the state, is reviewing the performance and efficacy of the Commonwealth’s agencies and entities. A great example of the responsibility to look beyond number crunching is our office’s recently released audit of the Sex Offender Registry Board (SORB).
People are familiar with the concept that Massachusetts registers convicted sex offenders, maintaining a database of where such people live and work in an effort to maintain public safety. This system of public safety is maintained by SORB, a seven-member board appointed by the governor and staffed by more than 70 individuals.
Our recent audit looked at SORB’s operations from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2021. Covering that two-year period, my team homed in on whether or not SORB classified sex offenders at least 10 days before they were released from custody, thus ensuring they were assigned an appropriate level. Further, we looked at whether SORB or not used all the resources at their disposal to accurately identify sex offenders who were in violation of maintaining their registration.
I was disappointed to find that SORB underperformed in a way that could have a negative impact upon the public.
In the name of public safety she says. Why is it in interest of public safety this information must be known when statistics says what it says about repeat offenders and those who are first time offenders in addition to the impact it has on those who are known publicly? What has MA history shown about this info they want publicly known to be helpful and its comparison to other crimes that aren’t registered? The auditor gives their email address at the bottom of the article which means the door is open to ask them the hard hitting questions they probably won’t answer and will refer those who ask to another departmental office to answer. The auditor only checks the compliance (how ironic) of the system with itself.
I find it interesting that DiZoglio is concerned about newly released inmates not being classified within 10 days after release, because the info on potential high risk level 2 and 3 inmates isn’t made public right away. What she fails to mention is that a greater number of registrants move to the state everyday, and they also don’t get classified right away. It took me 5 months to receive my classification! Although the board classified me as a level 1, I could have easily been someone who was a level 2 or 3 without their information not made public for 5 months. This woman says she just wants to limit her “reforms” to newly released probationers, but we know it never ends there. Vic rights advocates would then want to adopt an Oregon style system where info is made public on newly released probationers and new residents of that state, until they are classified. And that can take years. At least Mass doesn’t take that long, and info stays private in the meantime.
The reason why SORB underperformed is because the Registry is just a facade of safety and the people that work there know that but maintains an illusion that it works. The Registry is a sham operation at best and a SCAM operation at worst to fleece the public out of money and political support.
Abolish the Registry!
Not surprised. Any government organization that calls itself the “Sex Offender Management Board” is guaranteed to be incompetent and corrupt. Even though California’s CASOMB management board differs from Massachusetts in function, they both support using the lie detector, which is junk science.
The only credit that can be given to one of the Massachusetts SOMB members is that they haven’t used another form of junk “science,” the Static-99R, which is currently being used heavily, in cases other than civil commitments, in at least three states now (with the State of California being the heaviest Static -99R user).
When these management boards support pseudoscience like the polygraph and Static-99 type “risk assessments,” that’s a Big Red Flag not to trust them!!
Forcing people who committed their offenses 30 years ago, and have remained offense free since, does not rationally serve to meet a legitimate public safety interest.
The government doesn’t give a shit about public safety, they care about justifying their positions.
Fear is how they do that.
Fear=money