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Monday, March 7, 1994
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
'If We Only Knew'
Continued from Page 1.
weights any sacrifice of sex offenders' rights
"Everyone talks about criminals' rights," he said. "Well, what about Stephanie's rights the night he wrapped his hands around her neck and strangled her? She gave up her rights, and we have to stop thinking that these people have the same kind of rights."
Gene Schmidt thinks that his daughter had the right to know that she had been working with a sex offender for six months. And he knows that if the sex predator act had been a law last summer, his daughter still would be alive.
"These bills create knowledge, and knowledge is safety," he said. "If Stephanie had known what a creep Gideon was, she never would have taken a ride from him on that night."
Gene Schmidt, his wife, Peggy, and their daughter, Jeni, have been the impetus for this legislation. The sex predator act originated with an ad hoc group the Schmidtts founded.
The act specifically targets sex offenders because psychologists and criminologists, such as Jan McLoud, corrections officer in Sedgwick County, agree that 90 percent of sex offenders can not be rehabilitated and that they will continue to commit sex offenses if opportunities exist. The 10 percent who don't commit again usually commit minor offenses such as window peeping or flashing, she said.
The bills of the act now are in legislative committees. It is expected that the act will be joined with other bills in a crime package that will be voted on this session.
If this legislation passed, Kansas would be one of three states to have such a law. Louisiana and Washington have passed laws similar to the sex predator act bills. In Louisiana, universities have knowledge of past criminal records before they admit applicants and place them in university housing.
Admission and Housing
Tom Risch, dean of students at Louisiana State University, said he thought that the law helped both the sex offender and the university community.
Louisiana State's application for admission asks whether an applicant is a convicted felon and whether an applicant has ever been incarcerated. If an applicant answers yes to either question, the admissions office compiles a complete report of the applicant's criminal record and gives it to Risch and William David, chancellor at Louisiana State. Lying about criminal records on the application is a violation of the conditions of release and leads to re-incarceration.
"The primary purpose for the review process is to assist applicants in their transition into the university because they are frequently coming from a different atmosphere where they were surrounded by prisoners," Risch said. "But it is also to insure the safety of our students."
Risch and David decide whether applicants can take certain classes and live in university housing depending on criminal records.
"We had a child molester apply to the university, and he wanted to go into elementary education," Risch said. "In that situation we would admit him to the university but not allow him to pursue that program. Those are the kind of calls we make. However, it is hard for us to conceive that if a person has served their time that they should be denied access into the university."
Gene Schmidt holds a copy of "Missing Still," a book about the life and death of Stephanie Schmidt, as he testifies for stronger conditions of release for sex offenders.
Risch said, however, that he felt fortunate that Louisiana had the notification law in place.
"I think it is a pretty good law," he said. "But it puts a responsibility on those who have the information to use it fairly and judiciously. We don't want this to become a scarlet letter."
The Scarlet Letter
"Asking those questions would be seen as an intrusion into someone's privacy," he said. "And I think there are legal concerns that the information could be a potentially discriminating factor."
Protecting individual rights is one of the reasons the University and other Regents schools do not ask applicants whether they are convicted felons or whether they have been incarcerated, said Ted
Ayres, Regents general counsel and director of governmental relations. '
David Ambler, vice cancellor for academic affairs, said that prior to the 1960s, universities had asked more questions about applicants than they did now. This practice was stopped because many of those questions were considered an invasion of privacy and irrelevant.
"The questions we ask are for information that is only relevant to the student's ability to be admitted to the University," he said. "And for a Kansas resident, the only admission standard is that you are a graduate of an accredited high school in Kansas."
Richard Levy, professor of constitutional law, said that it was unclear whether asking a person for criminal records on a University application was unconstitutional
"I think there is an argument, the right of privacy involves the potential to develop as a human being," he said. "Being branded as the worst kind of person there is, is going to have an effect on your ability to develop as a person."
But even if such questions were a violation of the right to privacy, there are narrowly tailored cases in which the government can impose restrictions for the purpose of protecting the public. Levy said.
But Ayres added that recent court decisions and the act could change the questions asked on applications, especially to weed out convicted criminals requesting to live in residence halls.
Ken Stoner, director of student housing, said that the application for University housing did not ask questions about criminal records. He said that if legislation passed that required sex offenders to register with housing agents, the Department of Student Housing would make policies in compliance with the law.
Ambler, Ayres and Stoner said that it was possible that sex offenders could be enrolled in the University and could live in residence halls.
"Since those questions are not asked, then, yes, it could happen, in theory anyway," Stoner said.
Jamie Cutburth, president of the Association of University Residence Halls, said this possibility was disturbing for students who lived in residence halls.
"The University does need to evaluate its current application if this is possible," he said. "It needs to be qualified by safety standards."
Connie Burk, facilitator for Students Against Violence Against Womyn, said the administration had been dragging its feet when it came to protecting women from violence.
But Ambler said that keeping sex offenders out of universities was not the responsibility of the administration.
"The burden for controlling these behaviors of society doesn't belong in our institutions, may it be state universities, colleges or even municipal pool, but it belongs in the courts of our land," he said.
Burk does not expect the University to become a court, she said, but students deserve to learn in a safe atmosphere.
"The University has an obligation to try to create an environment where a student can learn," she said. "It has an obligation to create a structure that allows for safety."
Registration with county sheriff
Just how protected KU students would be under the new legislation isn't clear. If the law requires registration only with employers and the county sheriff, the situation in Kansas could be closer to Washington universities.
Although Washington has sex offender notification laws in place, Washington State University does not ask for criminal records on its application. But Mike Kinney, Washington State police captain, said that knowledge would not remain unknown.
"This is a small community, and since the offender has to register with the local sheriff, they would pass that information on to us," he said. "And if we were to find someone living in the dorms, we would make it public knowledge to the residents and the
housing department."
Kinney said that the Washington law supported the informal passing of sex offenders' records to the police and the public.
"The legislature here says that person who is convicted of committing a sex offense has a reduced right to privacy, and that affects any decisions we would make about notifying the public." he said.
Under the Kansas sex predator act, convicted sex offenders would have to register with the county sheriff. But Judy Osburn, operations coordinator for the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, said that the registration information would not be passed on to any other law enforcement agency in Lawrence, including the KU police.
Osburn said information about sex offenders could not be accessed through the sheriff's office because it was used only for investigations. However, sex offenders' records could be obtained by the public from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.
If we only knew
Gideon had raped a college woman. She worked alongside her future killer for six months unaware of his violent tendencies. He told her that he had been in prison, but he lied about his crime. He claimed that he had served 10 years for beating a guy up, and she believed him. She even told her parents that she felt sorry for him.
Stephanie Schmidt didn't know that she wasn't safe. And at the University, students and the administration don't know whether violent sex offenders have penetrated typically safe environments. Right now there is no way to know.
Stephanie Schmidt never knew that Donald
Gene Schmidt doesn't want another father to go through the hell of losing his daughter. He doesn't want another father to wonder why this happened. He said his family and his daughter's friends still were plagued by one question.
"If we only knew," is what Stephanie's friends say. "Then we wouldn't have let her leave that night." Gene Schmidt said. "If we only knew," Tom Hamilton, Stephanie's boss said. "I wouldn't have let him work with her." "If we only knew," is what we say every day. "If we only knew."
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