The number of registered sex offenders in Maryland has been growing at a steady pace, according to figures from the state Department of Corrections and Public Safety.
“It tends to grow by about a couple hundred a year, maybe [400 or 500] a year,” said Dave Wolinski, assistant director of the Criminal Justice Information System, which maintains the list for the state Department of Corrections and Public Safety.
Since December 2002, the earliest figures available, the number of registered sex offenders in the state has increased by 1,558, from 2,792 to 4,354 in December 2005.
“The only way you lose people is if they go back to jail,” Wolinski said.
Most people on the registry stay on it for life, resulting in the registry?s consistent annual growth, he said. People convicted of fourth-degree sex offenses and misdemeanors that include crimes such as possession of child pornography, are required to be on the registry for 10 years.
Those increases have largely flattened out this year because of increased efforts to incarcerate offenders who did not register. When they are in jail, sex offenders are removed from the public registry.
“How could you get to the local police station to register if you are in jail?” Wolinski said.
The number of sex offenders last year, 4,354, and the current number of sex offenders, which as of April 8 was 4,366, for instance, have remained approximately the same.
About 350 sex offenders will be added to the registry when they get out of jail, Wolinski said.
