SALEM (AP) - Since the Oregon Supreme Court ruled last year that sexual offenders have a constitutional right to defend themselves from receiving the designation of “predatory,” not one inmate has received the label when leaving state prison.

Without the tag, families can not receive a warning about such offenders entering their community.

“It's tied our hands,” said Becky Wanless, director of the Deschutes County Department of Parole and Probation. “We have not been able to do any notification whatsoever.”

The justices issued their ruling in February 2005, noting that sexual offenders must be allowed to present evidence that they do not fit the criteria of predators.

Since then, roughly 75 offenders who would have previously been labeled as predators have been released from prison with no designation, said Michael Washington, chairman of the state Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision.

The parole board will institute new rules on Aug. 1 that will allow the state to again label high-risk offenders as predators upon their release. The rules also will give offenders the opportunity for a hearing if they want to dispute the label.

State and public safety officials approve of the development, but question the 17-month gap between ruling and rule changes.

“I don't understand why they are dinking around. This could have easily been done a year ago,” said State Rep. Jerry Krummel, R-Wilsonville, who led the effort in 2005 to force Oregon officials to create a Web site identifying predators.

He even requested and obtained a legal opinion in September from the legislative counsel that showed the parole board had the authority to rewrite its rules.

“I'm a little bit irritated with just about everybody in the chain,” he said.

Marc Klaas, the director of the nonprofit KlaasKids Foundation in Sausalito, Calif., said the state should have done everything in its power to ensure rules were written immediately so that no family was put at unnecessary risk.

Klaas is the father of Polly Klaas, a 12-year-old who was abducted, raped and murdered by a stranger in Petaluma, Calif., in 1993.

“What are the priorities?” he said. “They clearly aren't directed at child safety.”

Washington, of the parole board, said part of the delay came because the board incorrectly believed that lawmakers would agree on a bill in the 2005 session.

All sex offenders must register upon release, whether or not they are deemed predators. To determine if someone is a predator, the state analyzes the offender's age, previous offending history, the nature of their sexual crimes and their history in domestic relationships.

Washington doesn't think Oregonians have faced increased danger.

“These people aren't in the community just running around; they have strict conditions imposed against them,” he said.

“The fact we could not designate did not cause a lot of concern for us. We realize some offenders should be designated. But given other safeguards in place, the community was not at any more risk.”