MASSACHUSETTS:  FEDS MAY RUN MASSACHUSETTS SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY

After a court ruling this week struck down part of the law regulating sex convicts, the FBI may have to step in and run Massachusetts' beleaguered sex offender registry and notification system.  In issuing his ruling, a court decision eliminated a provision of the state law that had required sex offenders to preregister with the state for a hearing on how dangerous they were to the community.  Relying on a 1998 decision by the state's Supreme Judicial Court that held all sex offenders have the right under the state constitution to a hearing before they register, Suffolk County Superior Court Judge John M. Xifara issued his ruling.