After court reversal ruling, attorney general candidate would revamp DCS

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the seventh circuit declared the public sex offender database “constitutionally insufficient” Tuesday.

“Erroneously labeling an offender a sexually violent predator imposes unnecessary monitoring costs on state law enforcement and reduces the efficacy of the registry in providing accurate information to the public,” the ruling said.

The consensus came after the court of appeals reversed a U.S. District Court ruling allowing the Indiana Department of Correction to run its sex offender database without minimal procedures that would challenge the database’s accuracy.

“The court found that the only way to guard against stigmatizing errors is to afford minimal due process,” Ken Falk, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, said in a press release.

Falk argued the case before the Seventh Circuit.

Kay Fleming, the Democratic candidate for Indiana attorney general, has an agenda of her own.

Fleming said she is an advocate for child safety as well as modifying the Department of Child Services and that the program is in need of an “overhaul,” she said in a prepared statement.

Although the DCS and Indiana Department of Corrections are not affiliated as far as the court case is concerned, Fleming said issues such as child abuse, which the DCS handles, needs to be dealt with on the local level.

“The main thing we’re trying to propose is a better use of resources,” Fleming said. “They need someone to help with interpretation and that’s what we’re proposing.”

Fleming said local resources and departments should be utilized on all levels. This provides a more efficient avenue to deal with cases that would stem from the DCS.