Don’t play ball
Little League clamps down on offenders
Little League International, the overarching organization for the youth leagues, late last year voted to require checks of the National Sex Offender Public Registry for managers, coaches and other volunteers who come into regular contact with players. The registry, coordinated by the U.S. Department of Justice, is a cooperative effort between the federal government and the states that host public sexual offender registries. This would include California.
The registry, which became available in July 2005, features a web-based search tool allowing the user to submit a single query to obtain information about convicted sex offenders in nearly every state. It now includes all states. Use of the registry is free: nsopr.gov.
“Little League commends the Department of Justice and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on taking this important step,” Little League President and CEO Stephen Keener said in a statement. “Little League remains committed to providing its volunteers with the means to make Little League a safer program for children.”
Little League is the largest organized youth sports program in the world with more than 2.6 million players and 1 million adult volunteers. In 2003, it became the first national youth sports program to require checks of state sex offender registries for its local leagues. m
Information: littleleague.org.
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