RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) – A federal law passed to track sex offenders is not being followed in several states, including Virginia.
The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, named after the boy abducted from a Florida mall and killed in 1981, was passed in 2006.
The goal of the law was to link sex offender information from one state with other states to create one, easy to access database.
However, states now said it is too time consuming and costly to overhaul their existing compliance systems. They also said it negatively impacts juvenile offenders, who in some states, can petition to remove their names after rehabilitation.
All states were supposed to comply with this act by July 2011, but 34 states, including Virginia, have been unable to meet the full requirements — and some have given up.
If states do not comply, they forfeit 10-percent of the law enforcement funding provided by the justice department.
But states like Texas said when they compare the funding with the cost to comply, they are financially better off disregarding the law.
A spokesperson for Virginia State Police said the only thing holding the Commonwealth back from being substantially compliant is the issue regarding minors. However, if the minor is tried as an adult, they are entered in the sex offender database.
