5-13-2008 Missouri:
"Sex Offender Zoning Laws Don't Work At All"
That's from Nancy Sabin, Executive Director of the Jacob Wetterling Foundation (www.jwf.org).
I spoke with Nancy after last night's Extra aired. If you haven't seen our story about sex offender zoning laws, surf over to the "Extras" portion of kare11.com, or click on this link: Sex offender laws: Good intentions gone bad?
As you may know, the Jacob Wetterling Foundation (JWF) is a Twin Cities based organization whose mission is to protect children from sexual exploitation and abduction. Nancy had a number of thoughts about the laws we discussed in last night's Extra -- laws that restrict where convicted sex offenders can live.
"It is one of the poorest uses of our resources, vigilance and supervision," she said.
Here's why, according to JWF:
1. Nationwide, there are no known cases of children being exploited in the "safety zones" created by these laws, i.e., within 2000 feet of a school, day care center or playground
2. Most of the people convicted of sex crimes -- 92 percent -- are first-time offenders. In other words, they would not have been subject to the restrictions laid out in these zoning ordinances in the first place.
3. Of the 400 cases presented to JWF in the last 5 years, fewer than five percent of the alleged molesters are convicted sex offenders
4. Most sex crimes are happening "under our noses, in our own homes." In other words, as KARE reported last night, most attackers are related to their victims or know them well.
Nancy went on to say there "is not one piece of research that supports zoning laws," which have been passed in the Minnesota cities of Wyoming and Taylors Falls.
"We need to do a better job, as a community, of reporting these crimes," she said. The zoning laws provide a "false sense of safety." ..more.. by Scott Goldberg
May 13, 2008
MO- JWF: Sex Offender Zoning Laws Don't Work At All
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I am always happy to speak out about what does or doesn't really work to keep our kids and communities safer. When I hear that more cities are doing the "me too" approach by passing ordinances like residency restrictions without properly researching their effectiveness, I can't help but wonder. resdiencey restriction laws for released sex offender have NEVER been proven to work, whereas loitering restrictions could do far more to reduce and prevent the exploitation of our kids (where the offender and child are in the same location at the same time). Why? The facts and common sense thinking tells us that most released offenders work during the day and simply sleep in their house or apt at night or on the weekends. Conversely, kids are most likely to be their schools M-F during the daytime. The two are less likely to be in the same spot at the same time and the majority of sex crimes are committed on other adults versus kids. Zone residency laws would have done little to prevent the child abuse that occurred at the hands of thousands of perpetrators who were rarely charged or convicted.... Please, please, please....ask our policy makers to use our limited funding to do the MOST GOOD in reducing and preventing the exploitation of kids! As a small 4-person nonprofit, I do NOT have the resources to keep asking more and more cities to NOT pass these laws...
Nancy Sabin, Jacob Wettelring Fdtn
www.jwf.org
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