Stricter rules urged for sex offender registry

Lawmakers heard testimony yesterday on a bill that would place convicted sex offenders on parole for life if they fail to register properly with the state's Sex Offender Registry Board as required by law.

"It's the people who are trying to fly below the radar screen that we're trying to get here," said Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey during a public hearing before the Joint Committee on Criminal Justice.

While many of those who testified yesterday supported the bill, at least one attorney called it unconstitutional.

In a written statement to the committee, Carol Donovan, an attorney with the Committee for Public Counsel Services, said: "The proposed legislation is unconstitutional because it is excessive. A life sentence imposed for neglect of clerical duties is cruel and unusual punishment."

Last month, a Woburn woman and her daughter were killed, allegedly by Michael J. Bizanowicz, 41, who was on probation at the time after a prison sentence for child rape. Supporters of the bill have said the measure would have afforded Bizanowicz stricter treatment from the state's Parole Board. In October, Lowell police charged Bizanowicz with failing to reregister as a Level 3 sex offender when he moved back to the city. That alleged failure violated the terms of Bizanowicz's probation. He finally registered in December.

"Sex offenders on parole in Massachusetts rarely, if ever, reoffend as sex offenders," Stephen G. Roche, an attorney who represents the Massachusetts Parole Officers Association, told the committee. Roche said parole officers are prepared to pick up some of the slack, but reinforced the purpose of the bill. "The intent all along was to get sex offenders registered," he said.

The bill is backed by House Ways and Means chairman John H. Rogers, Norfolk District Attorney William R. Keating, and Senator Michael W. Morrissey.

Morrissey said the bill would strengthen the law, but he still sees limitations to sex offender registration. "Registration, I think, has been a good idea, but it's not everything it's cracked up to be," Morrissey said.