Proximity restrictions, as described in this article, while likely to protect some children from CERTAIN REGISTRANTS, are severly discriminatory to OTHER REGISTRANTS. Discriminatory in that, there is no REAL classification of registrants as to who posses a risk and who does not, and to what population they may pose a risk to. Further, if tied to places where children congregate, that would again be useless as that is not where such crimes occur (proven by recent Iowa statistics). Finally, the Adam Walsh Act classification system of tiers is as useless as "a ___ in the wind," Warden's comment from the movie "Shawshank Redemption" when Tim Robbins disappeared from his cell.
Report to the Iowa General Assembly, January 22, 2009
1-28-2009 Iowa:
DES MOINES --- Sex offenders would be restricted from loitering or being present --- rather than residing --- near places where children play or gather under changes being proposed by state public safety officials.
Ross Loder, lobbyist for the state Department of Public Safety, told a legislative panel his agency is working with justice department officials to craft legislation that will comply with new federal sex-offender requirements --- including a provision to repeal Iowa's 2,000-foot residency restriction and convert to presence and loitering restrictions that focus on where offenders are while they're awake instead of while they're asleep.
Thomas Ferguson, Black Hawk County attorney, said trading residency restriction for exclusion zones makes sense.
"That would be more effective in achieving the goals of protecting children and be more efficient in the use of law enforcement resources," Ferguson said.
"The residency restriction just bans someone from sleeping near certain designated areas --- school and day cares --- but it doesn't really prohibit them from spending their day in an area where kids can be," Ferguson said.
He noted that limiting where convicted sex offenders can live caused some to disappear from the registry system that was put in place to keep tabs on them.
Loder said the proposed changes are part of a complex measure intended to improve the effectiveness and enforceability of laws designed to oversee convicted sex criminals while meeting a deadline to comply with the federal Adam Walsh Act or face sanctions.
Among the provisions would be language to shift the focus from restricting where sex offenders can reside to establishing exclusion zones where they could not be present without permission or loiter within 300 feet of a restricted area, he said.
The proposed changes also would establish a three-tiered system requiring sex offenders to register for 15 years, 25 years or life without a waiver option. Right now convicted sex offenders in Iowa could be required to register for 10 years or for life depending on the crime for which they were convicted.
Loder said there is concern that should Iowa not adopt the federal changes that the state might be viewed as a place where sex offenders could go to avoid being tracked in a uniform national system.
Rep. Jim Lykam, D-Davenport, chair of the House Public Safety Committee, said he recently attended a national conference where some state officials indicated it would be more costly for them to comply with the federal mandate than to accept the funding sanctions.
Lykam noted that a similar discussion on moving away from the residency requirement two years ago failed because one of the four legislative caucuses was not on board.
In Black Hawk County, the residency restrictions cut off large sections of residential areas, often driving sex offenders to rental property on the edge of the cities.
Lobbyists for the county attorneys, sheriffs' and deputies' associations strongly advocated a repeal of the current 2,000-foot residency requirement.
Aside from the claim that the requirements deter offenders from registering their addresses, authorities said it is addresses only a small portion of sex crimes against children. Only 1.5 to 2.5 percent of molestation cases involve a stranger, Ferguson said. In the vast majority of cases, the perpetrator is family member, step-parent or friend of the family, he said. ..News Source.. by ROD BOSHART, Courier Des Moines Bureau
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