Deltona's controversial sex-offender law holds; effectiveness tough to measure

11-8-2011 Florida:

DELTONA -- In 2006, Deltona approved what was then considered a controversial ordinance governing where sex offenders can live. It went above and beyond the 1,000-foot restriction set by state law, banning certain offenders and predators from living within 2,500 feet of schools, parks and other places where children congregate.

Some questioned its constitutionality, but the law has held up and other cities have adopted the 2,500-foot boundary.

Ormond Beach, Palm Coast and, after a vote last month, Daytona Beach are among other cities with the 2,500-foot restriction. Deltona also made its law a little tougher earlier this month.

Using the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's sex offender registry and Census data, Palm Coast appeared to have the area's lowest percentage of sex offenders among its residents, a rate of 1 offender for every 1,343. It's much more common to find a sex offender living among the residents of Daytona Beach, where there was 1 offender for every 226 residents.

That metric shows little change in Deltona since 2006. As of last week, Deltona had 1 sexual offender for every 774 residents, while in 2006, when its ordinance was first passed, there was 1 offender for every 766. City officials, though, believe the ordinance has been effective in protecting children.

"I think it's working well in Deltona," Mayor John Masiarczyk said. "It doesn't stop the ones who don't report (their addresses to authorities), but at least it's there and gives us a tool to use if need be."

Because of Deltona's ordinance, 38 convicted sex offenders relocated from residences within the protected areas, according to city spokesman Lee Lopez. The majority, 32, moved out of the city limits, while the others moved to homes outside of the 2,500-foot restrictions.

There have been no reports of offenders living within the restricted areas in 2011, Lopez said.

But in other ways, the results have been mixed.

Taking a look at the FBI's Uniform Crime Report for the city, the number of rapes was up 60 percent between 2005 and 2010, going from 20 to 32 in that stretch. However, in the first six months of 2011, the figure was down to just 3.

Earlier this month, the City Commission tweaked its law, banning landlords from renting to known sex offenders and predators within that boundary. The Deltona commissioners didn't spend much time discussing what was once a controversial law.

Commissioner Fred Lowry seemed to express his colleagues' sentiments. Asked whether the law was working, he said: "It seems to be." If anything, he said he'd favor even more restrictions.

"Obviously, we've got so many kids in Deltona we've got to be careful. I'd rather err on the side of safety," he said. "We could be tougher than we are now."

Yet social scientists who have studied the impact of residency requirements on sexual offenders and predators say there's no evidence such rules actually improve recidivism or make children safer.

"Society should be protected from violent and repeat sexual predators, and stricter sentencing guidelines will help keep dangerous sex offenders away," wrote Jill Levenson, an associate professor of human services at Lynn University in Boca Raton, in an email to The Daytona Beach News-Journal. "But when offenders are released into communities, it behooves us to provide an infrastructure that facilitates successful re-entry rather than contributes to the obstacles known to increase recidivism.

"Though laudable in their intent, there is little evidence that recently enacted sex offender policies achieve their stated goals of reducing recidivistic sexual violence," Levenson wrote.

Levenson, the researcher, said even if a city has reduced its number of offenders or predators, society faces other problems.

"That might seem like a 'success' for Deltona, but the unintended consequences include transience, homelessness and clustering in communities with less restrictive ordinances," she wrote.

Also, a 2008 study in which she participated took a look at 165 sex offenders who were re-arrested for a new sex crime over a three-year period. The researchers matched a similar group of sex offenders -- based on their criminal history, age and marital status -- who had not been re-arrested during the same time frame.

They compared the two groups and examined where they lived.

"Sex offenders who lived within closer proximity to schools and day care centers did not reoffend more frequently than those who lived further away," the report states.

Daytona Beach police Chief Mike Chitwood said last week he doesn't know whether the new restrictions are going to make children safer.

"I don't think anyone knows," he said. "But the thing that got everyone fired up is that 1 offender for every 226 residents. There was concern among leaders and neighbors about why haven't we done this ordinance."

The issue is complicated because many sexual assaults remain unreported, raising questions about the value of the research that's been done, he said. But in the end he urged the City Commission to approve the ordinance, suggesting that Daytona Beach is "the only city that doesn't have it."

Norma Bland, a Daytona Beach resident, also supported the new law before the commission.

"Our children are our future and we need to protect them," she said. "I don't want (offenders) in my community but they have a right to go someplace: Tent City." ..Source.. by MARK HARPER, Staff writer