CO- Residency restrictions not a solution

3-6-2009 Colorado:

A recent Greeley ordinance restricting where registered sex offenders may live may have unintended consequences. The staff and board of directors of the Sexual Assault Resource Center (formerly Sexual Assault Survivors Inc., or SASI) are concerned that the new ordinance is emotionally appealing but contradicts what is known about managing sex offenders.

Our agency is dedicated to eradicating sexual assault and its devastating effects on victims. We focus our efforts on advocating for victims, supporting victims through the process of bringing offenders to justice, assisting victims in recovering from a sexual assault and educating the public to eliminate the false information and prejudices about sexual assault that hinder eradicating it. We are speaking out about the recent ordinance because part of our mission is to correct false beliefs.

The idea of restricting registered sex offenders from living near schools, playgrounds and parks seems like a common-sense idea to many people. Some who support the Greeley ordinance argue that the restrictions may make registered sex offenders less likely to choose to live in Greeley, and that will make Greeley safer.

But as we examined the evidence from six states that have looked carefully at residency restrictions, we found that all of the evidence refutes that common assumption. Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, California, Florida and Colorado have studied this approach to reducing sex crimes. Every single study concluded that residency restrictions had no effect on reducing sex offenses.

For example, the Colorado Department of Public Safety found that child molesters who re-offended did not live closer to schools or daycare centers than those who did not re-offend.

What has proven effective in preventing registered sex offenders from committing additional sex crimes is close supervision by parole and probation officials, long-term treatment by specially trained professionals, consistent employment, social support and a stable living situation.

Residency restrictions make it more difficult to require sex offenders to have stable housing, social support, close monitoring and treatment services. The worst unintended consequence is sex offenders becoming homeless or simply dropping out of sight. Losing track of offenders increases the danger for all of us.

While residency ordinances have not been shown to increase the safety we all want, we think the Greeley ordinance is also too broad. It lumps all registered sex offenders together — juveniles and adults; violent predators and less severe offenders; those who prey on children and those who don’t.

The success rate for rehabilitating juvenile sex offenders is extremely high. We don’t want to destroy that. If there is not enough support to rescind the ordinance, we propose amending it to exclude juvenile offenders and those with lesser offenses that have never involved a child.

We would also like the Greeley City Council to consider ways to measure the effectiveness of the ordinance in decreasing sexual offenses and review its effectiveness in a year.

Simply reducing the number of registered offenders residing in Greeley is an insufficient measure of success unless we also know that offenders who did not move here are not living just outside our city limits, or have not dropped out of sight, and have not committed additional sex offenses.

We do not want fewer sex offenders in Greeley at the expense of our neighboring cities and towns and county residents.

Sexual offenses are a major problem in our society, and effective solutions are complex and sometimes counterintuitive.

We should all consider a variety of approaches to see what works best. Then we must gather evidence, analyze it carefully and follow what it tells us. What at first seems like a good idea may not be.

The Sexual Assault Resource Center board of directors consists of Tanya Trujillo-Martinez, director; Maribel Talamantes, assistant director; Steve Wrenn; Deana Davies; Dr. Bob Stewart and Deb Corban.
..News Source.. by Sexual Assault Resource Center