Sex Offender Registry Updated

Yesterday, the Governor signed into law Act 45 which allows the criminal justice center to expand the sex offenders that are listed on its website as sex offenders.

The Hawaii Supreme Court in State v. Bani, 97 Haw. 285, 36 P.3d 1255 (2001), overturned a prior statute that required that all sex offenders registration information be made available to the public. A constitutional amendment was passed last year permitting the legislature to make the information public. Act 45 implements the constitutional amendment and allows most of the sex offender registery information to be available online. According to the Attorney General, the online registry does not list the following sex offenders:

• About 300 whose offenses are less serious and whose information is available at the attorney general's Criminal Justice Data Center and police stations.


• About 300 others whose cases are being worked on to determine if they meet the new standards for having their information posted. These cases include mostly people who moved to Hawaii.


• About 100 who have committed only single misdemeanor offenses and are not required to have their information made public.

Many community associations are faced with issue of whether it has a duty to inform residents whether a sex offender is living in the community. While an association will normally have the power to inform its members of a sex offender in the community, it probably does not have a duty. For most associations, however, it makes sense if they are aware of a sex offender in their community to inform their residents of the fact. We normally recommend, however, that instead of identifying the individual, the community simply inform residents where the information may be located.