By Peyton Kraus

KU Statehouse Wire Service

TOPEKA — Alyssa Runyon was unaware of her new friend Keith Hawkins’ criminal past when she offered him a place to stay after a Facebook post said he needed somewhere to sleep for the night.

That night in August 2017, Hawkins’ entered the room of Runyon’s daughter, Zaylynn, and killed the young girl. When Alyssa found him in Zaylynn’s room, Hawkins killed Alyssa as well.

Although Hawkins was required to register as a sex offender after committing a sexually violent crime against a 5-year-old when he was 12, he was only listed with law enforcement rather than a publically available list.

Edward Runyon, the father and grandfather of the victims, testified during the House Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee in support of HB2739, which would require juveniles to register as sex offenders for life and on a public forum for being convicted with aggravated sexually violent crimes.

“I think we’re here to protect the innocent and unfortunately we do many things as kids; we steal a candy bar we do other things like that, but we don’t (unintelligible) sexualize a child or anything like that,” Runyon said during his emotional testimony. “That’s where you cross a line as far as what’s OK and what’s not OK.”

Current law requires offenders under 14 to register until they are 18 or for five years after the incident, whichever is longer. For those older than 14, the same requirements apply, unless it is a severity level one offense. HB2739 as currently written would eliminate these exceptions, causing all juveniles to register for life for all sexually violent crimes.

Runyon went to his district’s legislator Rep. John Whitmer (R-Wichita) and asked for legislation that would attempt to stop tragedies from happening in the future.

“I’m getting a little tired of people not holding people accountable for their actions,” Whitmer said after the hearing. “I mean don’t get me wrong I don’t want to ruin a kid’s life as an adult because he’s having to register for the rest of his life — you commit that crime, I could care less if you have to go register.”

Eight written testimonies in opposition of the bill were sent to the House Committee with similarities between each. Opponents argued previous legislation and cases, saying it is unfair to punish juveniles as adults based on their underdeveloped brains. In addition, opposing testimony evaluated taking away the hope of juveniles for a better future by forcing them to register for a lifetime.

“To spend a lifetime paying for a crime committed as a child is the surest way to take away someone’s hope,” said Jason Runyan, whose 18-year-old son has one more year of registering as a sex offender after sexually assaulting Runyan’s younger step-son.

Opposition came in ways of asking for psychological treatment in communities to overcome trauma, as many juvenile offenders are often previously abused themselves as pointed out in licensed professional counselor Emily Schmidt’s written testimony. Other testimonies asked for professional help on both sides of trauma in legislation rather than further prosecution.

“My opinion is the best person to help them is a psychologist, someone who is trained to identify these issues and work with these issues not necessarily a blanket law” said Topher Philgreen, chief operating officer of Youthfront.

Philgreen presented stories of juveniles he has worked with who have been in legal trouble after exploring and developing in their sexuality through touching of peers.

HB2739 requires offenders of violent sex crimes of all severities to register for life on a public forum. Whitmer said that the levels of severity could be addressed as the bill is further discussed. This could include the Romeo and Juliet situation deemed acceptable by many parties, which refers to sexual contact between minors who are less than four years apart in age, even though the legal age of consent is 16 years old.

“The Romeo and Juliet issue can be–rarely is it ever charged as a level six (offense)—but it can be. So perhaps one of the things we do when we rework the bill is carve out that because obviously that’s not what we’re going for,” Whitmer said after the hearing.

There is no further discussion scheduled for HB2739.

Peyton Kraus is a University of Kansas junior majoring in journalism from Minneapolis.