By AP/KWMU
Jefferson City, MO – There's an effort underway by several Missouri lawmakers to pushing for a constitutional amendment that would force sex offenders convicted before 1995 to register. The state registry law took effect that year. Nearly 4,000 sex offenders were knocked off the list by a Missouri Supreme Court decision last year because they were convicted before that.
Republican Senator Jason Crowell and Democratic Senator Maida Coleman are part of a bipartisan group backing the amendment.
Crowell says the change should be made to reflect the lawmaker's intentions when the registry law was originally enacted. Coleman says the change would help the public by forcing sex offenders to list their whereabouts.
The proposed constitutional change would only affect the offender registry statute.