NJ- Area officials say towns should be able to decide where pedophiles live

Restricting where registrants live is not going to prevent new sex crimes, the Supreme court is correct in nullifying local ordinances. Local officials refuse to review how crimes are committed instead settling for sounds-good ordinances for which there is no proof they make anyone safer.

5-8-2009 New Jersey:

Local leaders and activists reacted strongly yesterday to the New Jersey Supreme Court's invalidation of laws governing where convicted sex offenders may live.

Such laws in Hamilton and Robbinsville established within the past four years were among those in more than 100 New Jersey towns overturned by the ruling.

The decision is an example of "the Supreme Court of New Jersey being completely out of touch with the families" of the state, said state Sen. Bill Baroni, R-Hamilton.

"What the Supreme Court did ... is take away local towns' ability to protect their own children," Baroni said. He added municipalities should be able to decide where sex offenders can live.

The Supreme Court ruled that such ordinances are in conflict with Megan's Law, which requires sex offenders to keep officials notified of their whereabouts and obtain approval from a parole officer when choosing a dwelling place.

Robbinsville Councilman David Boyne, who supported his town's sex offender residency ordinance, said he was "relatively upset" with the Supreme Court decision.

"We have to restrict where (sex offenders) live. It's protection for the kids," said Boyne, adding it was not enough for sex offenders to register with the state.

"If (the township ordinance) prevented one occurrence, the law was great," said Boyne. He said New Jersey legislators don't have the courage to create a statewide residency restriction law. In the past, legislators have argued for a unifying law on sex offenders that would expand Megan's Law so that sex offenders cannot live near schools and other places children gather.

Richard Kanka, father of Megan, the Hamilton girl who was raped and murdered in 1994 and for whom Megan's Law is named, said yesterday the state's judicial system is user-friendly to sex offenders and not to victims or future victims.

"So we prevent weapons and guns around a school, but it's OK to have a sex offender living right next door? I don't get it," said Kanka.

One bill (A-641) has already been introduced in the state Legislature that would explicitly allow towns to enact their own restrictions on sex offenders' residency. The proposed law would allow municipalities to enact 2,000-foot buffers around certain locations but disallow ordinances that made it impossible for sex offenders to live anywhere in town.

Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo, D-Hamilton, and Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein, D-Plainsboro, are sponsors of the bill.

"The law's silence on pedophile-free zones is a legal void that the Legislature now must fill," said DeAngelo in a release. He was on the Hamilton Township Council when it enacted the residency ordinance in 2005.

DeAngelo said pedophiles have "a sickness not proven to be curable," and he believes residency limits are another measure to protect youngsters. ..News Source.. by CARMEN CUSIDO and RYAN TRACY