Sex offender bill introduced

PROVIDENCE, RI (WPRI) - Legislation has been introduced in the House of Representatives to set sex offender registration and notification requirements in Rhode Island.

The bill was introduced by Rep. Peter Palumbo (D-Dist. 16, Cranston).

"Across the nation, there are nearly a half million registered sex offenders and at any time many of them are unaccounted for," says Rep. Palumbo.

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Under the legislation, the responsibility of the sex offender registry would move to the Rhode Island Department of Public Safety (State Police).

It also calls to remove the subjectivity of the current offender tier assessment system and replace it with an offense-based tier system.

The legislation complies with the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, which was named after the son of 'America's Most Wanted' host John Walsh.

6 year old Adam Walsh was abducted in 1981 at a Florida mall and later found murdered.