Michigan’s public sex offender registry shed nearly half its names in six weeks. The most notorious name many people assumed had been scrubbed from the list was never on it.
More than 20,000 people came off after a unanimous Michigan Supreme Court ruling on September 9. The court found that the law requiring placement on the registry cannot be applied to people convicted before the law was passed. On October 1, the Eaton County Prosecutor’s Office announced that Larry Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University doctor, was among them, even though he is still behind bars.
Within a day, Michigan State Police said he had never been on the list because he was never required to be. Survivors were furious. Why keep a list that leaves out one of the most prolific abusers in American sports history?
Here is what is going on.
