7-23-2007 Colorado:
It all began in 1999 when five men dutifully went to the Lakewood Police Department to register as sex offenders.
Each gave the same address, which grabbed the attention of city officials, who quickly took action to close the house. Soon the City Council passed an ordinance permitting only one sex offender to live in a house in a residential area.
Lakewood's approach spread like wildfire, with 16 other metro- area cities promptly passing similar regulations.
But governments that passed laws over the past few years to keep sex offenders from living in group homes in their jurisdictions may have done so at the cost of public safety.
A number of studies, including one released last month by the Colorado Division of Criminal Justice, conclude that restricting where offenders may live does not prevent repeat sex crimes.
Instead, the restrictions encourage sex offenders to "disappear," blending into communities where they live in the privacy essential to committing new sex crimes, the studies say.
"Frankly, sex offenders like being told they can't be around other sex offenders," said Greig Veeder, executive director of Teaching Humane Existence, a sex offender treatment program. "It ruins their privacy. They can't commit their crimes unless they have privacy."
Colorado has more than 10,500 registered sex offenders. More than 3,000 live in the metro area. As of last week, Denver had 1,337 registered sex offenders.
Sex offenders generally have a high rate of recidivism - 18.9 percent for rapists and 12.7 percent for child molesters over a period of five years, the Colorado study reported.
"But recidivism only reflects crimes that are reported," said Kim English, research director for the Colorado Division of Criminal Justice, an arm of the state Department of Public Safety.
"We know that most victims of sex crimes never report the crime," English said. "What we do know is that known sex offenders are more likely than other criminals to commit another sex crime."
by eAdvocate:
None of the recidivism rates quoted by Ms. English appear anywhere in the "Colorado Study," so it is impossible to know where she got them from or to verify them.
However, according to the Dep't of Justice study, following release from prison and for three years thereafter, 5.3% of sex offenders were re-arrested for a new sex offense, and 3.5% of them were re-convicted.
QUOTE: Child molesters and statutory rapists:
"After their release, 5.1% (221 men) of the child molesters and 5.0% (22 men) of the statutory rapists were rearrested for a new sex crime (table 22). Not all of the new sex crimes were against children. The new sex crimes were forcible rapes and various types of sexual assaults.
Following their release, 3.5% (150 men) of the 4,295 released child molesters were convicted for a new sex crime against a child or an adult. The sex crime reconviction rate for the 443 statutory rapists was 3.6% (16 reconvicted men)."
Further, the same DOJ report showed that non sex offenders released from prison committed six times the number of sex crimes than did sex offenders released. See the following chart from that study (Click):
Then Ms. English says "We know that most victims of sex crimes never report the crime," which is what folks say when they have no support for their statements. If that were true then there are over 600,000 registered sex offenders -in national registries- which are registered why?
'Snakes in a basket'
What keeps that from happening is having sex offenders living in a structured environment with close supervision by professionals and observation by their peers, English said.
"Residency restrictions prevent us from having sex offenders living together," Veeder said, "but 25 years of my experience and significant research all support that the more you can make them live together, the easier it is to control them.
"It's far better to have snakes in a basket than running around loose in the yard."
The Colorado research, based on a 2004 survey of sex offenders, found that high-risk sex offenders living in shared living arrangements had significantly fewer probation and criminal violations than those living in other living arrangements.
Violations also were more quickly reported because of the heightened peer and professional oversight. Quick reporting is essential for speedy action to protect potential victims, the study noted.
"Offenders hold each other accountable for their actions and responsibilities and notify the appropriate authorities when a roommate commits certain behavior, such as returning home late or having contact with children," the 2004 Colorado report said.
The study found that sex offenders living with their families re-offend or violate probation at twice the rate of high-risk sex offenders living with other offenders.
by eAdvocate
The 2004 study was of sex offenders participating in 3 different treatment programs offered by Colorado. Most important is, all were on parole or probation, and due to the treatment programs were forced to live in those arrangements. The study never compared the results to sex offenders who were NOT on parole or probation, who do not live together by choice although are sometimes forced -due to residency restrictions- to live in close proximity to each other.
Accordingly those results cannot be applied to the class of sex offenders in society. Further, the Colorado definition of "violation" can be as simple as standing outside after curfew, technical types of violations. These are not crimes.
Residency restrictions often force sex offenders to "go underground," registering their residence at a shelter or motel where they stay only temporarily.
Temporary address
In 2006, the Salvation Army's Crossroads Shelter caused concern among some Denver officials because more than 50 registered sex offenders were living at the shelter, at least temporarily.
Salvation Army Maj. Neal Hogan said the shelter's ministry is to serve the homeless, but that sex offenders - and others released from prison - stay at the shelter when they have no place else to go.
"We don't seek them out," Hogan said, adding that Crossroads would happily refer them to a shelter designed to handle sex offenders. "But we don't know of any services that exist for that purpose."
Last week, 66 sex offenders were registered at the shelter's address, but Hogan said that number is misleading because people frequently move on while the shelter address remains on official records.
Hogan said the shelter keeps in close contact with the police department, alerting them to new residents, those who have left and those who gave the shelter as their address but never showed up.
"The numbers can be somewhat skewed," he said. "It's a convenient address for them to use."
Colorado has no state laws restricting residency of sex offenders, though probation and parole officers must approve residency and keep sex offenders away from schools or other high-risk situations, English said.
Though Veeder and English say restrictions like those that swept through the suburbs beginning in the late '90s work against public safety, parents don't want sex offenders living in their neighborhoods.
"I was absolutely shocked when I found out," said Lori Housel, who lived next door to the house where the five sex offenders were living in 1999. Housel said she had two teenage boys who were left alone at times.
"It made me sick to my stomach," she said. "I don't think they should be in a residential area with young children, whether they are supervised or not."
An offender's view
R.P., a sex offender who says he was among the "Lakewood Five," said the reaction of neighbors and city officials, though understandable, was frightening.
"At that time, I was really scared, getting thrown into the spotlight like that," he said. He and his roommates were yelled at and received threats, he said.
He said he understands why people who hear about a "horrendous crime" by a sex offender want him locked up forever, but "people forget there are a lot of shades of gray."
He spoke on the condition that his full name not be used out of fear of retaliation.
After the men were forced to leave the Lakewood house, he moved to another home with several sex offenders.
R.P. completed his five-year probation three years ago, but has continued to live in the shared living arrangement and take part in therapy sessions with Veeder's group.
"SLAs (Shared Living Arrangements) are a very good thing to help sex offenders get hold of their issues - you can't avoid therapy," he said. "In general, it forces guys to be more honest and live a much straighter life."
The Colorado study concluded that a "tight web of supervision, treatment and surveillance" - like that offered by shared living arrangements - was more important in maintaining public safety than where a sex offender resides.
Colorado is one of the few states where shared living arrangements are used, English said. It also is one of the few states that uses polygraphs to monitor sex offenders and requires lifetime supervision of some.
English said none of the 15 new crimes committed by the 130- member study group involved sexual contact, and most were identified through polygraph examinations. Only one was detected by law enforcement. Two were reported by group members and one man reported himself.
"The way we manage sex offenders is so tight, it is a real success story," English said.
Twenty-two other states have passed laws creating buffer zones around schools, child-care centers and playgrounds where sex offenders can't live. Again, researchers say there is no evidence to show that these restrictions prevent sex crimes.
A 2007 Minnesota Department of Corrections study of new offenses committed by known sex offenders concluded that none would have been prevented by a boundary restriction.
Most of the 224 sex offender recidivists surveyed for the study found their victims through another adult, and none made contact with a child near a school, park or playground.
"It is unlikely that residency restrictions would have a deterrent effect because the types of offenses such a law is designed to prevent are exceptionally rare and, in the case of Minnesota, virtually nonexistent over the last 16 years," the report said.
Colorado has no state buffer zone law, though there have been several unsuccessful attempts to pass one. Some local governments, however, have adopted such measures.
These laws are ineffective because sex offenders most often prey on a victim they know, English said.
"We keep passing public policy as if these are 'stranger' crimes, but most are not," she said. ..more.. by Sue Lindsay, Rocky Mountain News
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