The Loophole Allowing Sex Offenders to Hide From Public Registry

The state of Arizona is finally closing a loophole that sex offenders were using to very quietly change their legal names. You see, once a person gets on the National Sex Offender Registry, their name, their photo, their current address, and the crimes that they committed, they all appear on a public database. Anyone in America has a right to know whether or not there is a registered who that person is and what they did. I have personally went through my local offender list many, many times checking out who these people are, where they live, and what they did. Now, some places in the country are actually a bit more proactive. They actually mail out flyers to the neighbors informing them that someone on the block happens to be a registered offender. However, the obvious question is, what happens if that sex offender changes their legal name? What's stopping your local offender from just going down to the local courthouse, changing their legal name, moving to a different location like a different state or a different city, and basically disappearing off the map? Well, at the federal level, there is a law which requires all sex offenders to notify the federal government if they change their name. That law is called SORNA, which is an acronym standing for the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act. And it basically requires offenders to keep their national registrations current. If they change their name, if they change their address, if they change their jobs, and or if they start at a new school, they're required by law to inform the federal government within three business days. Not doing so constitutes a felony. However, even with that law in place, it's basically an honor system. If the person doesn't report it, the federal government doesn't automatically know. Ironically, I guess you can say it's an honor system for people who don't have any honor. And so to avoid problems, different states have taken different approaches. You have some states like Virginia, Tennessee, as well as Alabama that don't even allow sex offenders to change their names at all. If you're on the list, you cannot change your name in that state unless, as just one example, you're a woman getting married or something like that. Other states, like South Carolina, they do allow for name changes, but those states automatically inform the federal government if a change is made. It's not an honor system. It's just automatically reported. But then there are other states, like Arizona, where a sex offender can change their legal name and basically just disappear from the public eye. If they don't self-report, they could just slip through the And so this is where the new change comes in. The Arizona Statehouse, they unanimously approved the bill, which would not only create a ton of legal hoops to jump through for the offender who wants to change their name, but also it'll force them to inform both the government as well as their victims of the name change. And very notably, if their victim doesn't approve of the name change, the victim has a right to object and to stop it from actually happening. And then furthermore, the procedure that an offender would have to go through under this bill to change their names, it would basically leave very little wiggle room for them to be able to hide. Now, Republican State Rep. Quan Nguyen, who is the sponsor of the bill, said the following regarding the need for this change of law. Now, for your reference, at the moment, the bill has yet to become law. It did unanimously pass the Arizona Statehouse, and it is currently in the state senate awaiting a vote. We'll just have to wait and see what happens there. However, I personally would be, frankly, very surprised if it doesn't pass. At the very least, I would love to hear the arguments from any state senators on why they would vote no on this type of a measure. If you can actually think of any reasons, please leave them down in the comments section below. I'd love to know them. All right, just to pause here for a super quick moment, I'd like to introduce today's sponsor, Shen Yun Performing Arts. It is the preeminent best Chinese classical dance performance in the world, but funny enough, they're actually based right here in the U.S., and they're not allowed to perform in China. Part of the show, it exposes the crimes of the Chinese Communist Party, and so ironically, they can't even go there. But the show itself is great. I've personally seen it several times, and the athleticism, the artistry, the stories are phenomenal. Some of them are touching, some are funny, a lot of them are thought-provoking, and you're not really allowed to film the show, but basically, it looked exactly like the commercials do. Beautiful colors, a full orchestra right there in the theater. They also have this screen in the back that's perfectly timed with the dancers, so sometimes it looks like they're jumping in and out of the screen to tell the story, which is cool. But the best part is that it's just super uplifting in a moral sense. I feel like every time I watch it, I leave the theater as a better person than I did coming in. And most shows nowadays, at least in my opinion, are really subversive, and they sneak in some communist elements, but Shen Yun is different. They really showcase traditional culture, and even though it's Chinese, it actually probably resonates with everyone. So check it out. They have shows coming up in like 100 different cities, Dallas, Houston, New York, Memphis, Charlotte, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Seattle, pretty much everywhere else in between. And the best part is that to our viewers, they're offering a special promotional deal. Just buy your tickets over on the Shen Yun website and use promo code Roman26 to avoid paying both the ticketing fee as well as the facility fee. That's again promo code ROMAN26. I'll throw a link to the website where you can find all the different show dates and cities. It'll be down in the description box below. Otherwise, if you want to track the status of this Arizona bill, I will throw the bill's official tracking website. You can find that link down in the description box below, which is of course that description box right below those like and subscribe buttons, both of which I hope you take a super quick moment to smash so that for one, this video can be picked up by the YouTube algorithm and shared out to ever more people who, in my opinion, deserve to know about it. And then second of all, every time we publish a new update in this case or an update in any other case, you'll be informed because you will be a subscriber to the channel. So again, smash those like and subscribe buttons and see you next time. I'm your host Roman Balmykov. Stay informed and most importantly, stay free.