Community Corner

Speaker to Revisit Bill to Publicize Sex Offenders

If passed, the law would allow the public to access information about Level 1 sex offenders.

In the wake of last week's horrific news of a Wakefield man arrested on charges that he raped infants and toddlers, House Speaker Robert DeLeo said he will take another look at legislation to publicize names of low-level sex offenders, according to a Boston Herald report.

The proposed law, filed by Gov. Deval Patrick last year but stalled in the Legislature, would add Massachusetts to the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act and allow the public to see which Level 1 offenders, deemed the least likely to reoffend by the Sex Offender Registry Board, live or work in their neighborhoods. Currently, the police are required to publicize the names of Level 3 offenders, who are consider the most likely to reoffend. 

The issue is being revisited in light of the fact that John Burbine of Wakefield, the man who was charged last week with 100 child sex abuse charges involving 13 infants and toddlers, was a Level 1 sex offender. Burbine was convicted in 1989 of indecent assault and battery on a child. 

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The proposed bill would have made information of Burbine's previous conviction public. 

“In the coming days, Speaker DeLeo will meet with law enforcement from the affected communities and give serious consideration to the bill in question as well as other options to address these types of sickening crimes,” DeLeo spokesman Seth Gitell told the Herald.

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