1X
Hawaii's version of Megan's Law — requiring lifetime registration of all convicted sex offenders with passive public notification — took effect just weeks before this broadcast. Leanne Moriyama, of the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center, describes 526 registered offenders, five access points across the state, and plans to automate the system. Adriana Ramelli, director of the Sex Abuse Treatment Center, supports the law as a necessary first step, citing a state study finding over 9,000 women experienced sexual contact in one year; she argues victims must be centered and wants active notification for the most dangerous predators. Kathy Shimata, parole officer in the sex offender unit, reports full compliance among her cases and welcomes new treatment funding. The sharpest critic is psychotherapist Connie Brinton, who argues the law treats all registrants identically: perhaps 10 percent of offenders account for most crimes, the rest have low recidivism even without treatment, and stigmatizing everyone may push the most dangerous underground. Roth presses Brinton and Tom Heinrich, the ACLU attorney who co-authored her article, on whether the law creates false security. Ramelli counters that 25 percent of girls and 17 percent of boys face likely sexual assault, making the community's safety interest paramount.
Transcript
Read or download the full transcript (.txt). Speaker labels were assigned automatically and may contain errors.
Companion newspaper commentaries
Commentaries by the guests, published in The Honolulu Advertiser around the broadcast.
