WA- Sex offender notices raise bigger questions

7-22-2008 Washington:

He drove a Mercedes-Benz. He owned an apartment building. Running errands, he dressed in a crisp shirt, jacket and tie.

So said The New York Times about Josef Fritzl. Remember Fritzl, the Austrian recently accused of living a depraved double life?

According to authorities in his town of Amstetten, he secretly kept his daughter imprisoned for 24 years in a basement dungeon, and fathered seven children with the captive daughter while living with his wife and family upstairs.

I've been thinking about that mind-boggling story -- Fritzl, 74, is expected to stand trial for rape, child cruelty and false imprisonment -- since reading about a 28-year-old registered sex offender moving into an old house known as the McManus mansion on E. Grand Avenue in Everett.

Last week, more than 100 people from the Riverside area packed a community meeting to protest the man's presence. They were understandably concerned about property values and safety. I live in an old Everett neighborhood. I'd be upset, too. Who wouldn't be?

Just for the sake of argument, let's say you live in an area with no registered sex offenders. That's not the case with me. I checked the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office Web site Friday. There are at least 23 level 3 sex offenders, posing a high risk to reoffend, in my ZIP code, 98201, and many more than that who are lower level offenders.

Let's say there was none. Would that make me and my 9-year-old safer? I think it's only an illusion of safety.

Janice Albert, a Snohomish County deputy prosecutor, worked several years in the special assault unit, which deals with child abuse cases and sexual offenses.

Among many cases handled by Albert, I found these in Herald archives by typing in her name and "rape": a 31-year-old man with learning disabilities charged with child molestation; a Lynnwood woman sentenced to prison after admitting to sexual contact with a 14-year-old boy; a 26-year-old Everett man, charged with first-degree child rape, accused of victimizing children in his mother's day-care business; and a 34-year-old Bothell man convicted of participating with a girlfriend in the videotaping of teens engaged in sex acts.

Not one of those defendants was a registered sex offender, Albert said.

"The fact is, it is usually a parent, a grandparent, a stepparent, a step-grandparent or a trusted friend. And if it's a serious sex crime, the second conviction is a life sentence," said Albert, who now works in the Snohomish County Prosecutor's district court unit. "Once you've been charged and convicted, you have to register. Until then, you don't."

Sally Neiland, program director of the sex offender treatment program with the state Department of Corrections, understands the community anger. "It's not a topic anyone is lukewarm about," she said. "We know that one out of three females and one out of five males have some history of sex abuse. With that percentage of the community impacted by sexual violence, it makes sense for people to be fearful and angry."

Neiland works with sex offenders every day. She's also seen the pain of their victims. "I worked for the Providence Everett Sexual Assault Center as a victim advocate," she said.

Many sex offenders, too, have been victims. "About one-third have been sexually abused as a minor, about a third have been witnesses to domestic violence," Neiland said. "Not everyone who is sexually abused goes out and sexually offends."

With our laws being what they are, many sex offenders will be released from prison. Where will they live? Chad Lewis, a Department of Corrections spokesman, said community safety is the core mission in finding housing.

"Our community corrections officers work really hard to find housing to put an offender in the best place," Lewis said. "People are obviously concerned when a sex offender ends up living under a bridge," he said, referring to the recent case of David J. Torrence. Homeless, the high-risk sex offender was told by the state to stay under a U.S. 2 bridge near Snohomish.

Housing several offenders together may raise fears, but Neiland said it's often the best situation. "They hold each other accountable, talk about treatment and notice changes in behavior others might not notice," she said.

"It's difficult, balancing community safety and liberty issues of offenders," Neiland said. "The majority of treated sex offenders are working and living social, productive lives. They have a lot of restrictions."

If you're not convinced, I understand.

By the way, did you know that Fritzl, the Austrian, was convicted of rape decades ago? The British Broadcasting Corporation reported that his conviction was wiped off the books after 15 years. In Austria, there's no such thing as a registered sex offender.

Is that safety, or an illusion? ..News Source.. by Julie Muhlstein, Herald Columnist