NY- Bill targets clusters of sex offenders in Brookhaven

It is amazing that these politicians could not predict clustering from their prior actions on residency laws, but, blind they are, they seem to default to "It Sounds Good" without looking to future consequences. All be it, here if this passes, they hand a Constitutional Issue to the RSOs to take the ordinance to court, and the former sex offenders will win. Politicians are continually blind in their consideration of ways to push former sex offenders out of communities. Ignored by lawmakers is, that laws give RSOs a right to be in the community and ultil lawmakers understand that truth, they will continue to fail in their illegal quest.

8-1-2008 New York:

With proposed legislation that local officials and child protection advocates say would be a first in the state, the Brookhaven Town Board is considering a landmark "saturation statute" that would impose tighter restrictions on registered sex offenders and, proponents say, help break up Long Island's densest cluster of sex criminals.

The legislation, which will be the subject of a public hearing Tuesday, would make it illegal for more than two registered sex offenders to live in the same one-family dwelling.
The proposal is designed to break up clusters of sex offenders in communities such as Gordon Heights. There, 22 Level 2 and 3 sex offenders live in six of the houses on Homestead Drive and more than 40 offenders live within a roughly half-square-mile area, according to the state registry Web site.

The proposal, which could become law at Tuesday's town board meeting, has drawn widespread praise from community activists and child welfare groups, who say the regulation, coupled with existing laws that prohibit sex offenders from living near schools, would let families reclaim communities such as Gordon Heights.

Gordon Heights Civic Association president Tawaun Whitty said the law would also help sex offenders "restart their lives" by steering them away from neighborhoods and toward industrial and commercial areas with employment opportunities.

But sex crime experts and law enforcement officials have said sex offenders who are rehabilitating can function as a support network for each other, and further marginalizing their housing opportunities could hurt their chances of reforming.

Peter Gollon, president of the board of directors for the Suffolk chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said the proposal also could have constitutional flaws if it interferes with an offender's freedom to associate.

"The way this [would be] enforced is by placing restrictions on wherever children might be," Gollon said. "So the number of places where sex offenders are able to live has been reduced to very small areas."

Joe Abramo, a Suffolk County probation supervisor, said group living situations also can allow authorities to "better keep an eye on them."

At yesterday's town board work session, board members said the proposal probably will pass.

"This is yet another tool in my toolbox to keep sex offenders from clustering," said Councilman Keith Romaine, who represents the Mastic area, which struggles with a perception that it is a haven for sex criminals.

But Roberto Perez, 58, who was convicted in 2001 of first-degree attempted rape of a 15-year-old girl and now lives on Homestead Drive, said the law would only weaken his chance of reforming.

"Where am I going to walk, the sky? Where am I going to live, the moon?" Perez said through an interpreter.

The primary change would be a ban on more than two offenders living in one single-family home - though town officials said they might later tweak the law to include multifamily homes. Tuesday's hearing comes a month after the town increased the distance a sex offender must live from a school, park or playground - from 1,000 feet to a quarter-mile - bringing it in line with county law.

According to Parents for Megan's Law, Brookhaven's law would be the first such "saturation statute" in the state. Laura Ahearn, the group's executive director, said the Brookhaven proposal would be tougher than the county's regulations. But Ahearn and other advocates said offenders will still require greater supervision and help finding jobs to reform.

Town Supervisor Brian X. Foley said the clustering issue will eventually require a state law change or offenders will merely be shuffled from one community to the next.


Where they live

Locations where more than two sex offenders live in the same residence.
Number of registered level 2 and 3 sex offenders living in a residence.
SOURCE: ESRL; Teletlas

MORE THAN 40 registered sex offenders live within a roughly half-square-mile area of Gordon Heights and Coram, according to the state sex offender registry. That is the highest concentration of Level 2 and 3 sex offenders on Long Island. Some 22 offenders live in six houses on Homestead Drive.

There are several reasons for this concentration, according to experts, politicians and offenders:

The availability of low-cost rental housing

The location of the housing more than a quarter-mile from schools or playgrounds, as required by law

The willingness of landlords there to accept sex offenders

A lack of political clout - in a relatively poor, minority area - to stop the clustering


PENDING

LEGISLATION would prevent more than two sex offenders from living in a single-family home. A PUBLIC HEARING is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday at Brookhaven Town Hall, 1 Independence Hill, Farmingville. ..News Source.. by PATRICK WHITTLE