PA- Doubt cast on whether residency restrictions for convicted sex offenders keeps children safer

6-14-2009 Pennsylvania:

Middletown Borough in Dauphin County has joined a list of other Pennsylvania communities that restrict where convicted sex offenders can live. The problem is, several studies seem to show, such laws don't keep children safer.

Lauren Taylor is executive director of the Sexual Offenders Assessment Board, which evaluates everyone accused of a sex crime to determine their risk to society. Taylor said she is no apologist for sex offenders and would not dictate what municipalities decide to do. But she also visits municipalities considering such laws at their invitation to arm them with the facts she has gathered.

Among them, she said, "research shows there is no correlation between residency restrictions and reducing sex offenses against children or improving the safety of children."

"If you're going to do it, make an informed decision instead of letting emotions lead you to a decision that is meaningless in the goal you are trying to reach," she said.

Rodney Horton, president of Middletown Borough Council, said he has read those studies and understands the argument. But he believes Middletown's law, which keeps offenders 500 feet from places children gather, sends a message.

"We're sending a message that sex crime, especially toward children, is a major issue," he said. "When a community has endured many offenses like Middletown has, you can't sit idly by." ..Source.. by MONICA VON DOBENECK, Of The Patriot-News