As with many laws in the area of crime and justice, laws regarding sex offenders have a tendency to overreact to spectacular cases. Many towns have responded to problems with released sex offenders by setting up residency and loitering restrictions on released offenders, banning them from being within 1000 (or even up to 3000) feet of locations where children frequent. The rationale is to remove sex offenders from the presence of temptation, no doubt.
The drawback is that these restrictive zones can create large swaths of towns where sex offenders can no longer reside, causing many to be evicted. Ironically, this drives many offenders to move, making them harder for state officials to track them. Furthermore, sex offenders who are forced to move often drop out of treatment programs. The most interesting tidbit was hidden deep within the NY Times article on this phenomenon (and the resultant court case). An expert on sex offenders is quoted: "most of the laws are passed on the basis of the repulsive-stranger image, when in most cases the offender knows the victim.” Not just most cases; 90% of cases.
But at least we feel like we're doing something...
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