Attorney General Trevor Moniz has invited the creation of a working group to look into opening the sex offenders registry to the public.

The One Bermuda Alliance pledged to implement a public sex offenders registry in the lead-up to the 2012 general election, but to date no such legislation has been tabled.

Responding to questions by Independent MP Terry Lister on Friday regarding the status of the register, Mr Moniz said the Bermuda Police Service does keep a register of sex offenders to help protect the public from repeat offenders, and the police have been working with the Department of Legal Affairs regarding the feasibility of creating a more publicly available registry.

Currently certain segments of the public, such as youth organisations and child care agencies, can ask Child and Family Services or the police if a particular individual has been convicted of certain sexual offences, but the general public cannot make similar inquiries.

“This issue of a protocol is under active review and discussion and I am prepared to accept submissions from anyone who wants to come forward,” Mr Moniz said.

“What I would encourage is for those who are interested, presumably led by individuals in this House, to form a working group to put forward any proposals they have with respect to making a sex offenders register more available to members of the public.”

Mr Moniz said there had been no local research done on the impact of a public listing of sex offenders, but studies the results in other nations have reported mixed results.

“In parts of the US it has been found that public notification deters some first-time sex offenders but can increase recidivism because once someone is labelled a certain way they may tend to see themselves in that way and repeat the behaviour,” Mr Moniz said.

And he noted that steps must be made to ensure that a public registry doesn’t inadvertently identify the victims of sexual offences or brand those guilty of relatively minor offences as sex offenders for the rest of their lives.

Giving a hypothetical example, he said that a 16-year-old boy convicted of having sexual relations with a 15-year-old girl should not have the same penalty as a 30-year-old who is convicted of the same.

“There’s a question about how you categorise sex offenders,” he said. “It’s about how do we proportionately determine the consequential penalties for such a register, because effectively when you put someone on a register it is a form of a penalty.”

Asked by Mr Lister if the Government would consider residency restrictions for sex offenders, Mr Moniz said he has an open mind and is willing to receive representations, but that there is no timeline for any changes.

“I’m trying to look into the history of it and trying to look into where the deficiencies are, if any, in the present provision, and I’m happy to consider any suggestions for changes in the future,” he said.