By AP/KWMU
Jefferson City, Mo. – Authorities say more people are registering as sex offenders because a new Missouri state law eliminates a loophole in the old one.
The Missouri Highway Patrol maintains a statewide database of offenders. It has grown by almost 600 in the past year. The loophole that was eliminated allowed sex offenders to skip out on registering if they never left their home counties.
Patrol fingerprint services supervisor Tammy Byrd says names on the state list increased from 8,174 to 8,715 in the past year.