FL- Sex offenders may be banished by proposed Winter Garden rule

3-26-2009 Florida:

Sex offenders living in Winter Garden could be banished from the city by an ordinance being considered by officials tonight.

If adopted, the ordinance would restrict where people convicted of a sex-related crime may live by adding a restriction that forbids them from residing within 2,500 feet of school-bus stops.

That added restriction would effectively ban them from living in the city, said Jill Levenson, an assistant professor at Lynn University in Boca Raton who specializes in sex-offender issues.

"It's not popular to defend those people, but we have decades of research that shows this will just make the problem worse," she said. "Having unstable housing is the biggest predictor of who will re-offend."

Winter Garden police Chief George Brennan and City Manager Mike Bollhoefer said the ordinance isn't intended to banish anyone, but to protect children.

Brennan thinks the change wouldn't ban anyone. The city has about 30 registered sex offenders, he said, and they would not be forced to move based on the ordinance update.

But Levenson said the bus-stop ordinance "demolishes housing availability."

Winter Garden, about 3 miles by 4 miles, has about 300 bus stops. When those are added to other restricted places such as schools, parks and day-care facilities, there likely isn't a place for an offender to live, she said. ..News Source.. by Rich McKay | Sentinel Staff Writer