Sex offender bill clears committee
LANSING – The state Senate has been asked to consider a bill that would make it illegal for registered sex offenders to work for organizations serving children or victims of sexual assault.
State Sen. Curtis Hertel Jr., D-Meridian Township, introduced Senate Bill 1027 after reading a June 1 report from the Lansing State Journal that the Listening Ear, a Lansing nonprofit serving sexual assault victims and others, had simultaneously used three registered sex offenders as volunteers. On Wednesday, that bill was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee and now goes to the full Senate for consideration.
Michigan law currently does not prohibit sex offenders from working or volunteering at such places.
The Listening Ear previously did not perform background checks on its volunteers, because its philosophy was to accept people for who they are and not who they were. Some leading Listening Ear volunteers knew of the offenders but kept their pasts secret from the organization's full board and other volunteers. The men did not serve on the organization's team specifically serving sexual assault survivors, but served alongside a fellow volunteer who is a survivor and could have come in contact with others who called the organization's crisis hotline or walked into its East Michigan Avenue offices seeking help.
Read more: http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/capitol/2016/07/13/sex-offender-bill-clears-committee/87022730/
