KS- Do residency restrictions for sex offenders work?

State of Kansas says no

5-20-2008 Kansas

Topeka — "They don't work."

That's the short answer from Kansas Corrections Secretary Roger Werholz when asked why the state doesn't have laws restricting where sex offenders can live.

"They don't work, and they actually make things more dangerous rather than make them safer."

Werholz and others point to research done in other states like Minnesota, Florida, Arkansas and Iowa, which actually has a residency restriction in place.

"Where the sheriffs, district attorneys and the victims' services organizations all came out asking that that legislation be repealed," said Werholz.

The reason they asked that the legislation be repealed is that a lot of the sex offenders who were required to register were absconding supervision, going underground, because they were losing their places to live.

Kansas has looked at imposing residency restrictions, but has so far decided against it. And the state has gone a step further and placed a moratorium against any city in Kansas putting in its own restrictions.

"What we want to do is not so much what makes us feel safer, but what makes us safer," he said. "It's not what the sex offender deserves. It's what we deserve and we deserve to live in a community and a state where our kids are as safe as possible. Residency restrictions does not deliver that."

In addition to offenders going "underground" and no longer reporting where they live, other states have found that residency restrictions can force offenders out of areas where they can get the treatment they need and away from available jobs. ..more.. by Ben Bauman