The Law, Apparently, Requires a Reminder
Some laws are so complicated that an ordinary citizen might be forgiven for needing a lawyer, a flowchart, three cups of coffee, and perhaps a government-issued compass to understand them. Then there are laws whose principal instruction is essentially, “You are required to register and keep your information current.”
One would think that even a fellow with a demonstrated ability to read a government form could manage that. Apparently, this is an unreasonable expectation.
The Lyon County Sheriff’s Office has arrested two registered sex offenders in separate cases for allegedly failing to comply with Nevada’s verification requirements. The men were not accused of misunderstanding some obscure subsection buried on page 417 of the Nevada Revised Statutes. According to the sheriff’s office, they decided not to complete required verification by the appointed deadlines.
On Sept. 18, Western Command deputies arrested 63-year-old Edward Russell of Dayton. Authorities said Russell is a Tier III registered sex offender and had failed to complete a required verification. Deputies contacted him, and he was arrested on a felony charge of violating NRS 179D.550 before being booked into the Lyon County Jail.
Six days later, the same administrative miracle occurred in Fernley.
Northern Command deputies arrested 55-year-old Michael Corral, whom authorities identified as a Tier II registered sex offender. The sheriff’s office said Corral likewise failed to complete a required verification by the specified deadline. Deputies encountered him at the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office Fernley Substation, which seems to be an especially inconvenient place to discover that one's paperwork is not in order.
This naturally raises a question: Is somebody failing to explain the rules, or are the rules being explained and then promptly forgotten, or are sex offenders being willfully stupid?
I hesitate to accuse anyone of stupidity, because stupidity is a serious allegation and requires evidence. Besides, there is a perfectly respectable alternative explanation: perhaps the universe has created a special class of people who believe that laws are more like suggestions, particularly when those laws involve appearing at a sheriff’s office and confirming information the government already has.
It is a peculiar arrangement. The authorities know who these individuals are. The individuals know who they are. The law knows who they are. And yet, every so often, somebody apparently decides that the one thing everyone needs to know is the thing he need not bother doing.
The sheriff’s office says it will continue enforcing Nevada’s registration and verification requirements against registered sex offenders who are found out of compliance. This is probably wise, since laws tend to lose some of their authority when compliance becomes optional.
Still, one wonders whether the next offender might be spared the inconvenience of an arrest by receiving a friendly reminder: “Hello, this is the sheriff’s office. You have a legal obligation. Please do the thing.”
And if that doesn't work, there is always the time-honored American solution: write it down in very large letters.
