Do Oklahoma's Registered Sex Offender Laws Work?

No one can answer whether the laws work, until someone answers, what did you expect the laws to accomplish? Politicians will NEVER ANSWER that question with any sort of specificity, they will only broadly claim "Follow me and I'll get this (whatever they are touting) passed into law." They ignore whether that will solve what caused the most recent high profile crime they focus on. Evidence is not the tool of a politician, sounds good are the politicans tools.

3-13-2010 Oklahoma:

Advocates and law enforcement believe state lawmakers are missing the target by pushing sex offender laws that in some cases could make the problem worse. FOX23’s Abbie Alford explains why police and some experts in sex abuse say what lawmakers are doing sounds better than it really is.

It’s an election year and many lawmakers want to be tough on sex offenders.

Proposals that require GPS monitoring of certain sex offenders, banning convicted child predators from social networking sites and expanding the "safe zone" law from 300 feet to 500 feet to keep offenders from loitering near children.

"It's just another tool it makes everyone feel safer and it makes everyone feel better," says TPD Exploitation Sgt. John Adams.

Adams says the reality is that of the 6,446 registered sex offenders on the Department of Corrections registry, 765 can’t be found.

Those offenders are labeled “delinquent” meaning they gave the state one address but they’re somewhere else.

Sergeant Adams says Oklahoma’s laws are so tough on offenders it’s very difficult for them to find a place the law will allow them to live.

"Now that parent that feels safe because she has signed up for the alerts and checks the sex offender registry weekly has no idea that the next door neighbor is a child molester that can't find a place to live legally and is staying there," says Adams.

Here are the facts: A U.S. Department of Justice study (Bureau of Justice Statistics, Sexual Assault of Young Children as Reported to Law Enforcement: Victim, Incident, and Offender Characteristics, July 2000, NCJ 182990, table 6.) shows 34% of children are victimized by family, 59% are victimized by a friend and 7% are victimized by a stranger. Oklahoma’s chapter for Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE) says offenders need treatment in prison and a chance to change.

“The laws are putting the public at risk by minimizing the person’s ability to gain a creditable life," says Wayne Bowers, CURE-Sex Offenders Restored through Treatment (SORT) President for Oklahoma's chapter.

There are more than 3,000 sex offenders in the Oklahoma Department of Correction prisons. Last month the department announced it would be cutting sex offender treatment programs in its prison because of the budget crisis.

The state says once the offenders are released from DOC custody the offenders will need to seek treatment on their own. ..Source.. Abbie Alford