10-19-2010 Iowa:
DAVENPORT, Iowa -- The same home address has been given to the Scott County Sheriff’s Department this year by 18 registered sex offenders.
West Kimberly Park, 4847 W. Kimberly Road, Davenport, is one of the few rental places in the county that is at least 2,000 feet from any school or day care, which means it complies with state law as an eligible place for certain sex offenders to live.
The trailer park owner could prohibit sex offenders from renting there, but he does not.
Ken Miller, the park owner, declined to be interviewed for this story, saying, “I don’t want to get involved in anything like that.”
At one point this summer, 12 sex offenders were living at West Kimberly Park at the same time.
“It’s like a modern-day leper colony,” said sheriff’s detective Peter Bawden, who keeps track of the 300-plus registered offenders in Scott County.
West Kimberly Park, formerly Brown’s Trailer Park, has about 40 mobile-home lots, and several of the residences are occupied by children.
“Some sex offenders do have children of their own,” Bawden pointed out. “There’s nothing in the law that prohibits them from being around their children. We have several sex offenders who are parents.”
And what about the children living at the park whose parents are not sex offenders and may not be aware that so many of their neighbors are?
“There is no way for me to know when someone who is not a sex offender comes and goes from there,” Bawden said. “There’s probably a waiting list for sex offenders out there.”
A female park tenant said she was made aware through word of mouth the number of sex offenders living there. A woman who lives in a nearby neighborhood said she learned of the makeup of the park by searching Iowa’s Sex Offender Registry.
Both women declined to be quoted by name, saying they are fearful of speaking critically of neighbors with a criminal history.
But the woman who lives on the outskirts of the park said her young daughter never is allowed outside the house alone because she and her husband are fearful of what could happen to her.
Experts who study public-safety measures geared toward sex offenders say residency restrictions like Iowa’s 2,000-foot rule are among the laws that don’t work. Critics do not quarrel with efforts to keep track of offenders but say zoning laws are not only ineffective but may actually increase public risk.
In situations like the one at West Kimberly Park, some say, having as many as a dozen sex offenders living in one small area can be dangerous to neighbors and to offenders who are trying to stay clean.
Learning as they go
Jill Levenson, an associate professor of psychology and human services at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., is regarded an expert in sexual violence and concluded in a nine-page paper on residency restrictions that Iowa is among the states that should consider changes.
Told of the sex-offender cluster at West Kimberly Park, Levenson replied, “We shouldn’t be surprised this becomes a consequence. Residency requirements really don’t reflect anything we know about sex offenses and sex offenders.”
In her report, which often refers to Iowa law, Levenson said 2,000-foot rules and other restrictions may have made sense at first. In practice, however, the good intentions of protective measures may actually be backfiring.
“Decreasing access to potential victims seems, intuitively, to be a reasonable strategy for preventing sex crimes,” she wrote. “However, there is no evidence that housing restrictions achieve this goal.”
The law was flawed from the beginning, she said, citing three “myths” about sex crimes.
-- The first is that all sex offenders will re-offend: “In fact, several large studies by both the U.S. and Canadian governments have found that sex offense recidivism rates are much lower than commonly believed.”
True offense rates are difficult to count, however, because so many sex crimes are not reported. But Levenson said all crimes are underreported, adding, “The only crime reported 100 percent of the time is bank robbery.”
-- The second myth is that sex offenders cannot benefit from treatment. In fact, researchers have found a relationship between offenders who successfully complete treatment programs and a decline in subsequent offenses.
-- A third myth thrives today and resulted from the “panic and urgency” created by a few high-profile child abduction/murder cases, Levenson said.
“In reality, such cases are extremely rare,” she wrote. “A study reviewing sex crimes as reported to police revealed that 93 percent of child sexual abuse victims knew their abuser.”
Removing sex offenders from areas where children congregate is not proving to spare victims, Levenson said.
“Offenders do not molest children because they live by a school,” she said.
The unintended results of residency restrictions, such as the “cluster” at West Kimberly Park, may be putting kids in peril, she said.
“The disproportionate number of sex offenders in one place produces an inequitable level of risk in that area,” she said. “Being around a bunch of unsupervised children in a trailer park can be more dangerous for an offender than living with family in a supportive environment.”
Start over or salvage some?
While pressure increases to reconsider some sex offender laws, portions of the statutes are working as they should, according to some who work in law enforcement.
When a child is reported missing, for instance, one of the first weapons police pull from their arsenal is the sex offender registry. Viewed in map form, the data instantly gives police (and anyone else) a geographic relationship between a victim and those who might have use for a victim.
As Levenson pointed out, those cases are rare. Much more common is the need for parents to keep tabs on neighbors, especially since most sex crimes are committed by offenders who know their victims.
As the deputy in charge of Scott County residents on Iowa’s Sex Offender Registry, Bawden has an appreciation for its potential as a public-safety measure.
“I’m a firm believer that keeping kids safe is a parent’s main role, main objective,” he said. “The registry is a tool that allows parents to check on a person. It does help keep children safe, allowing parents, teachers and day care operators to be aware of people with this kind of history.”
Scott County Attorney Mike Walton agreed, saying the sex offender registry “is a good thing, and I don’t think anyone disputes that.”
What Walton and other members of the Iowa County Attorney Association have pushed for is a repeal of the 2,000-foot rule, based on the same discoveries cited by Levenson.
“The problem is it (residency restrictions) doesn’t address the reality of child sex abuse, which is that an overwhelming majority of the offenders are relatives or friends of the family,” he said Thursday. “It drains resources away from investigation and prevention and into tracking, measuring and putting pins in a map.
“The other problem is that it creates clusters like this situation (at West Kimberly Park).”
The trailer park is not the only place in Scott County where offenders can live, but many of the rentable properties outside the 2,000-foot rule do not accept offenders.
“At 4847, they are OK renting to persons with that record,” Bawden said. “It’s entirely up to the property owner — as long as the address complies.”
Change considered
Scott County Sheriff Dennis Conard remembers when the sex offender registry and residency requirements were enacted by the Iowa Legislature.
In the beginning, there were high hopes that the measures would advance the cause of public safety. But the laws are imperfect, he said.
“The way these laws came about is law enforcement went to the legislature, along with county prosecutors, and asked for change,” the sheriff said. “I believe it’s time again for law enforcement to go back to the legislature.”
The resistance by some lawmakers to make changes, he said, comes largely from current economic conditions. Iowa cannot afford to spend more money treating, classifying, housing and tracking one group of criminals, he said.
“Until more resources become available, sex offenders are going to have to have restrictions and burdens placed on them,” Conard said. “Public safety has to come first.”
Walton said the Iowa County Attorney Association “pushed” in 2006 for the repeal of the 2,000-foot rule, but the matter is “too political” to gain ground.
He agreed with many of those who work most closely with sex offenders and say restrictions are not working and public safety would benefit from change.
Asked whether residents of Scott County would be safer if the 12 sex offenders living at West Kimberly Park were spread out in neighborhoods closer to the city center, Scott County probation and parole officer Diana Danielson said, “It would be better if that happened, yes.
“They would be closer to where they need to be — work, probation and parole, treatment programs, transportation. How much harder can we make it? We’re increasing their risk of recidivism, and that’s what we don’t want.”
By isolating offenders in rural locations with little or no access to jobs and social services, Danielson said, the “stressors” that lead to recidivism are on the rise.
“We’re also forcing some of them to be homeless,” she said. “Do we want them out wandering around?”
As sex-offender laws have changed in Iowa, the desire to monitor the actions of the most dangerous offenders has remained the bottom line.
“It used to be that anyone convicted of a sex crime against a minor had to comply with the residency restrictions,” said Ross Loder, legislative liaison for the Iowa Department of Public Health. “We went from 4,300 to 1,200 (offenders who have to comply with the restrictions) when the law changed in 2009 to include only those who commit the most serious crimes against children.
“Instead of just restricting where a person sleeps, a bigger concern was where they go when they’re awake. There was strong legislative will to restrict residency among those committing the most serious sex crimes — a more tailored approach.”
As sex offender laws get more use, and the people charged with enforcing them evaluate their effectiveness, more changes seem likely.
“I don’t know that there is any perfect solution,” Loder said. “There is ongoing, very important policy discussion. We’re all speaking the same language now.” ..Source.. BARB ICKES, Quad-City Times Sioux City Journal
October 19, 2010
Iowa law clusters sex offenders in Davenport trailer park
August 10, 2010
L.A. may break up 'sex offenders clusters'
OK, so they resolve the whim of some local politician, but create an even bigger problem for the State Parole office. Has everyone forgotten the Jaycee Dugard case and the parole issues of that case?8-10-2010 California:
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- New restrictions could soon be in place for registered sex offenders living in Los Angeles. Council members plan to introduce an ordinance on Monday that would evenly disperse offenders who are out on parole.
Officials are hoping to break up what they call "sex offender clusters" by limiting the number of parolees in a residential setting, creating exclusion zones and punishing property owners who violate these rules.
Several other cities have enacted similar ordinances, including El Monte, Long Beach and Palmdale. ..Source.. by KABC
May 18, 2010
Sex Offenders Found Living in Clusters in SoCal, Find Out Where
Notice how the media referrs to registrants as "sex offenders" and "Sex Criminals" hyping the hysteria about registrants. A goodly portion of registrants were convicted YEARS-AGO and should not be called names for the sake of sensationalizing the story of how the punitive laws force them to live in unsafe run down areas of the city, affecting registrants families as well, none of which deserve what authorities are doing to them and their futures..5-18-2010 California:
LOS ANGELES -- A KTLA analysis of the Megan's Law database finds clusters of sex offenders living in some Southern California neighborhoods, while others have virtually none.
When we conducted our research last month, we found one zip code in Wilmington -- 90744 -- with more registered sex offenders living in it than any other in the region.
One block of Flint Avenue in Wilmington was home to 94 registered sex offenders.
Most have done time for victimizing kids. They live in run-down apartments. Thirty of them in this one building, The Harbor Inn, where the manager, who told us his name was Joseph, makes no apologies.
"They have to have somewhere to stay," he told us. "They are human beings."
Flint Avenue is an industrial area near the port and a refinery. It's not close to homes, schools, or parks.
Still, if you took a wrong turn and ended up here, there's no sign to warn you this is a neighborhood full of sexual predators.
What we found here is typical.
Our research on the Megan's Law database found that the 90744 zip code Wilmington has the most, with 202, followed by a zip code in Lancaster with 157, 137 in a part of Long Beach.... and 118 in a section of Compton.
Sex criminals tend to live in poorer parts of town.
You'll find none in zip codes in Encino, San Marino, Pacific Palisades, and Newport Beach... and only one in Beverly Hills.
Orange County Assistant District Attorney Todd Spitzer says sex offenders are generally unemployable, and tend to live on public assistance. He says they can only afford cheap housing.
The law says they're not supposed to live within 2,000 feet of a school.
But we found plenty that do.
In Maywood, just across the street from Loma Vista Elementary, there's a duplex that's home to a convicted child molester.
He wasn't around when we knocked.
Some prosecutors think California needs to get tougher on sex offenders by keeping them in prison longer, monitoring them with GPS for life, or forcing them to live farther away from people.
Assistant District Attorney Spitzer thinks confining sex offenders to the high desert might be a good plan.
"I don't think it's a laughable idea," he told KTLA.
But back on Flint Ave. in Wilmington, there's a different attitude.
Joseph, the manager of an apartment building that houses 30 sex offenders, told KTLA, "People have to open their hearts and forgive." ..Source.. KTLA-TV
November 17, 2009
Sex Offenders Often Cluster In Urban Buildings
11-17-2009 New Hampshire:
Neighborhood Pressure, Expense Sometimes Push Offenders Together
MANCHESTER, N.H. -- There are about 2,400 registered sex offenders living in New Hampshire, and often, they end up living in the same building in the state's largest cities.
Officials and sex offenders said it often isn't easy for them to find a place to live, and many eventually settle for the same rooming house or apartment building.
Two sex offenders who live in the same Manchester rooming house spoke to News 9 but asked not to be identified. When News 9 spoke with them, almost 20 offenders lived in the building, where a simple dorm room and kitchen access costs $135 per week.
"It is very difficult for a sex offender," one offender said. "Very, very difficult."
Offenders said reintegrating into a place they're not wanted isn't easy.
"People don't want to give you jobs, give you a chance for anything," said an offender.
Hundreds of sex offenders live in New Hampshire neighborhoods. Many are clustered in apartment buildings or rooming houses because they are low-profile and cheap.
"If they live in a city like Concord, there's only a few landlords that will rent to them," said Scott Dodge, a Concord parole officer.
But it raises the question of whether a cluster of known sex offenders is safe? One apartment house in Concord was home to 13 sex offenders, while a Nashua location had seven offenders.
Dodge said urban buildings are sometimes more likely to be approved by an offender's parole officer.
"Ideally, we don't want them around their victim set," he said.
In many cases, that's young children. But once they're off parole, offenders can live almost anywhere. In Concord, two sex offenders were living in a building across from a park. A Manchester rooming house that's home to 13 offenders is in sight of a day care.
State Rep. Leo Pepino, R-Manchester, said he would like to see residency restrictions for offenders in Manchester added to the list of other rules they already follow.
"Well, what I'm worried about is the kids," Pepino said.
Currently, offenders must do multiple check-ins with police, have surprise visits from their parole officers, follow curfews and restricted have access to children.
"I stay away from schools and stay out of parks," one Manchester offender said. "I have no need to go in there."
Behind the walls in the rooming houses, offenders are not supposed to socialize. But inevitably, they do meet.
"I just say, 'Hi, hello,'" an offender said. "That's it. As far as hanging out, we're not supposed to hang out together."
"I end up talking with some of them from time to time," said another offender. "I don't generally hang out with them. Usually, I work nights and sleep days."
Authorities said their main concern in close-knit living is that one offender might slip up with drugs or pornography and cause others to follow. But so far, police said there is no evidence that offender clusters have led to more crimes or more reoffending.
In fact, some experts believe it can be therapeutic.
"It could be quite beneficial because they can then help each other identify anything that might be potential triggers of their reoffending pattern," said Helen Hanks of the Department of Corrections.
"It's a mutual support or group therapy is the best way to say it," said Douglas Gherlone, the owner of a rooming house.
Offenders also said that in the apartment buildings, they are left alone and don't have to deal with protests and anger sometimes seen by offenders who move to more residential areas.
"The awareness steps up," said Concord Sgt. John Thomas. "People get upset that this person is now in the neighborhood, and they didn't have to deal with this issue before."
Police also said that in some ways, clusters make it easier for them when doing compliance checks, and sometimes, the landlords will alert police to any issues. ..Source.. by WMUR9.com
September 2, 2009
CA- How Jessica's Law turned Antioch into a paedophile ghetto
9-2-2009 California:
Antioch is one of the few places in California where convicted sex offenders can legally reside. Was the strain of monitoring them all too much for the local police?
They have called it scruffy, cheap and unloved. They have sneered at the wire mesh fences and unmowed lawns and the rusting trucks in almost every driveway. And in time, when the media writes the final chapters of the appalling story of Jaycee Lee Dugard, they may very well conclude that in Antioch, her story was simply an accident waiting to happen.
A staggering 122 registered sex offenders live here, in a small, blue-collar city in northern California that has suddenly found itself at the centre of an international media storm. More than 100 of them – 102, to be precise – live in the compact zip-code area containing the suburb that Jaycee Lee's alleged kidnapper, Philip Craig Garrido, called home.
Two convicted rapists reside on Vine Lane, the street next to Walnut Avenue where Jaycee Lee's imprisonment and sexual abuse went unnoticed for almost two decades. On Viera Avenue, less than 200 yards away, is the home of Henry Lee Mickens, a 46-year-old man who recently served time for "lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 years old".
Dozens of other paedophiles can be found within walking distance. A mile and a half from Garrido's front door is Gragnelli Avenue, where the occupant of No 420, one Shayne Patrick Gaxiola, was convicted of molesting a 12-year-old girl and impregnating her in 1994, when he was aged 20.
Gaxiola was also found guilty of giving marijuana to a string of pubescent girls. He then took indecent pictures of them. In 2000, three months after his release, he was sent back to prison for violating parole after being caught with cannabis and a stash of pornographic magazines.
In a town full of such men, the activities of Philip Garrido seemed simply to slip below the radar – despite the awful track record that has emerged since he and his wife, Nancy, were arrested and charged with 29 counts related to Jaycee Lee Dugard's abduction, imprisonment, and serial sexual abuse over 18 years (to which, it must be stressed, they have so far pleaded not guilty).
Court papers released yesterday from Garrido's 1977 trial for the kidnap and rape of a young woman in Nevada portray him as a dangerous sexual predator. During a psychiatric evaluation, he admitted to using LSD and cocaine as sexual stimulants and said that he would often masturbate in public, by the "side of schools, grammar schools and high schools, and in my own car while I was watching young females".
There is, however, no shortage of similar stories in Antioch. That is perhaps why, after Garrido was released in 1988, 10 years into a 50- year sentence, he and his wife were able to slip virtually unnoticed into the fabric of this community, which stretches for roughly four miles along the Sacramento River.
At first glance, Antioch may look like any other small American city. Its 100,000 residents are largely white and working class. Some work in industrial plants. Others are commuters, unable to afford the cost of living in the San Francisco Bay area. In keeping with most of California, about 10 per cent are unemployed.
Yet as police continue to investigate Garrido's past – and look into potential links to 10 murdered prostitutes and three missing girls (on Monday they announced the discovery of a bone fragment in his garden) – the city is being forced to confront a grisly truth: for reasons largely beyond its control, it has become a paedophiles' ghetto.
At fault are laws governing America's treatment of sex offenders, which control where they are allowed to live and how much information the public should be given regarding their whereabouts. These laws were passed with the laudable intention of protecting children. But their actual effect is open to debate.
The most prominent is Megan's Law, which requires the public to be given access, usually via an internet site, to the names, addresses and "previous" of every man and woman convicted of a sexual offence. It is a well-intentioned exercise in open government. But in practice, critics say, it was introduced in such a way as to be of little help to anyone but the voyeuristic. "Thanks to political pressure, they made the criteria for including someone on the registry so wide that it has become totally ineffective," says Michael Risher, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union.
"It doesn't just carry details of violent rapists but also people who, say, lost their temper during a road rage incident and flashed at someone, or an 18-year-old boy convicted of statutory rape for sleeping with his 17-year-old girlfriend."
In California, the Megan's Law website contains 90,000 entries. Given this extraordinary statistic, it isn't hard to see why the residents of Walnut Avenue – who had 121 other convicted sex offenders in their city to worry about – might have allowed a man with Garrido's dubious profile to pass largely ignored.
The second group of laws that make Antioch a magnet for paedophiles governs where they are allowed to live. In California, as in many states, voters have in recent years endorsed Jessica's Law, which bans paedophiles from residing within 2,000 feet of a school or a park where children regularly play.
This has driven sex offenders out of major cities and conurbations, where they have access to rehabilitation and treatment facilities, and into suburbs and secluded rural areas, where they don't. In some smaller cities, they have now become concentrated in such large numbers that parole and law enforcement officers are unable to properly vet them.
This may explain why local authorities never noticed that Garrido was apparently keeping the kidnapped Jaycee Lee Dugard and her two small children concealed in the elaborate series of sheds and tents in his back garden. Thanks to the influx of offenders to Antioch from major cities, they were simply too overstretched to do their job properly.
It may also explain – but not necessarily excuse – the fact that a police officer dispatched to investigate claims of children living in Garrido's garden in 2006 seemingly did not have either the time or the wherewithal to thoroughly research his suspect's background.
"If you look at maps that show where offenders are actually able to live under Jessica's Law, there's almost nowhere in the whole of Los Angeles and San Francisco where they can now legally settle," Mr Risher adds. "Everywhere is within 2,000 feet of a park or school. So they all end up in places like Antioch."
Even police admit that this leaves them struggling to cope. Daniel Terry, from the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department, which oversees Antioch, has about 1,700 registered sex offenders in his jurisdiction. His station is responsible for about 350 of them, or "349 more than the number of detectives I have dedicated to monitoring these people."
Speaking to the Los Angeles Times this week, he said that the region's concentration of sex offenders was "significantly higher" than other areas in California and the rest of the United States."This is the reality. These people are walking amongst us everywhere." Adding to his woes are wider problems in the cheap parts of Antioch where Garrido and many other convicted sex offenders live. In the ramshackle area around Walnut Avenue, petty theft is rampant, drug abuse endemic – the favourite local tipples are crystal meth and crack cocaine – and lawns are littered with junk.
The city, which grew prosperous on the proceeds of the 1849 gold rush and then the steel mills and concrete factories that allowed it to ship the building blocks of San Francisco down-river during the early 20th century, is now among those caught in the storm of America's economic downturn.
Nearly 2,500 homes, roughly 5 per cent of the city's stock, are in foreclosure, with 699 new homes entering arrears last month. Property values have dropped 40 per cent in the past year and unemployment is soaring. Garrido's bungalow, a four-bedroom home built on a large plot of land between the wars, is worth just $100,000 (£61,800).
Against this background, and helped by laws that encourage ghetto-isation of sex offenders, it now seems that a man known as "Creepy Phil" by neighbours was able to take a little girl hostage, hold her for 18 years, father her two children, and even take them to community events, while barely raising an eyebrow.
In January, Zion Dutro, a convicted child rapist who lived on Alpha Way, not two miles from Walnut Avenue, appeared in court to plead not guilty to performing rape, sodomy and "lewd acts" on at least eight small girls. He faced 21 counts; his wife, a co-defendant, faced four.
In any other town, this kind of case would have sparked a mixture of shock and outrage that would be heard across the world. In Antioch, it merited no more than a few paragraphs in the local newspaper – a reaction which suggests that Jaycee Lee Dugard may not be the last grisly secret that the city reveals.
Sex offenders' register: Megan's and Jessica's laws
Megan's Law requires the public to be given details regarding the identity, whereabouts, and criminal record of convicted sex offenders living in their midst. It was named after the New Jersey schoolgirl Megan Kanka, who was kidnapped, raped and killed by a serial sex-offender in 1994. Today, it's being enacted to varying degrees in every US state.
Like any law passed in response to a public tragedy, the law has been dubbed knee-jerk by opponents, who say it encourages vigilantism and is an infringement on the civil liberties of ex-offenders. A study last year concluded that the law achieved no demonstrable reduction in child sex offences.
Jessica's Law prevents convicted sex offenders from living within a certain distance of schools, parks, and other areas where children gather. It was first adopted in Florida in 2005 after nine-year-old Jessica Lunsford was snatched from her home, before being raped and murdered by a convicted paedophile. Today, a version is in force in 42 US states. Critics say it has made major cities off-limits to offenders, forcing some to declare themselves homeless, and ghettoising others. There is little evidence that it works. Many police forces say it has the opposite effect: stretching resources and doing nothing to prevent paedophiles travelling to commit crimes. ..Source.. by Guy Adams
June 20, 2009
FL- Sex-offender laws burden neighborhood
Caused by politicians who allege they are protecting children. Hummm, what about the children in the "clustered area" are they being protected?
6-20-2009 Florida (Broward):
The surreal specter of people forced by the state to live under a bridge is only one of the unintended consequences of South Florida's overwrought sex-offender residency laws.
Graciela Ortiz struggles with another.
As city after city passed ordinances that essentially banished registered sex offenders, Broadview Park -- the unincorporated blue-collar subdivision where Ortiz has lived since she was 10 -- has become, by default, their last practical refuge in South Florida.
In January, Ortiz said, only a few registered sex offenders resided in the tired single-story duplexes and modest block homes near her apartment. Lately, Ortiz, mindful of a daughter and three grandchildren (10, 8 and 4) in the duplex next door, feels utterly overwhelmed.
Ninety-five registered offenders now live within five blocks. Nine reside along her block on Southwest 24th Street. Count the duplexes around the corner and the number jumps to 14. Local landlords, exploiting the Broadview loophole, have packed the desperate outcasts into apartments, two and three to a room.
Ortiz, 52, was warning neighbors Friday, door-to-door, that their mostly Hispanic blue-collar community has become a human dumping ground. She knows of no incident in which a sex offender has harmed a local kid. ''But I'm stressed all the time,'' she said. ``The kids can't play outside. I worry when they go to school.''
The unforeseen clustering of sex offenders in the last few slivers of unincorporated Broward has flummoxed the County Commission. Mindful of the Tuttle bridge mess in Miami, anxious to avoid both a homeless crisis and a constitutional challenge, Broward's commissioners appointed a task force to explore alternatives to another 2,500-foot no-live zone around schools, day-care centers and parks. The task force will meet twice next week to finalize recommendations, but a meeting Thursday, punctuated with testy exchanges, indicated that a consensus might be a tough reach.
''A cascade of local ordinances led to clustering in the unincorporated area. Now we have 100 sex offenders in one neighborhood, That's not a good thing. We're concerned about the safety of residents and their children,'' said task force chair Jill Levenson.
But Ortiz and her allies want a buffer that would preclude nearly all the sex offenders from unincorporated Broward. Levenson and others on the task force worry that casting offenders into homelessness and social instability would render them more difficult to monitor, more apt to abscond from supervision, more likely to re-offend. Until the very measures meant to protect children only ratchet up the risk.
But that's a tough concept to sell to an angry grandmother.
Three homeless sex offenders were living under the U.S. 441 bridge not far from Broadview Park on Friday -- a possible preview of things to come.
George Horne, a bridge dweller for seven months, said Broward sheriff's deputies threatened to arrest him if he didn't abandon the bridge, while his probation officer threatened to send him back to prison if he wasn't there every night by 10 o'clock.
''I don't know what I'm supposed to do,'' Horne said.
The county struggles with the same dilemma, writ large. ..Source.. by FRED GRIMM
February 21, 2009
Response to a viewer's question
This post is for a specific viewer, and no one is authorized to copy it anywhere else. eAdvocate (All Rights Reserved 2009)
UPDATE 3:30AM 2-22: The police have chaanged their mind on the cousin having the child, which an earlier FoxNews report indicated.
2-20-2009 eAdvocate:
To the viewer asking the question about clusters of sex offenders and possible higher rates of recidivism within those clusters. To our knowledge there are no such studies to support that theory.
While -44 RSOs- may sound like a cluster, the geography of this area may destroy that theory. There is a impassable river that cuts through the area cutting off all access (excepting the railroad tracks) for more than half of the 44 (Click on 3 pictures below). Further, on the side of the river where the Florida family lives there is no real cluster.
Other times clusters can be formed by lawmakers who try to protect some children, but fail to look at the consequences of their law on other children, those outside of their protected area. One can never forget that, if you protect an area, you also create an unprotected area. An example of a child being killed in an unprotected area is, the Georgia story of Christopher Barrios (a child of a RSO) forced by the state's residency law to live where other RSOs also lived and was ultimately murdered by them.
Further, when you have overlapping protected areas, or very close protected areas, the result is naturally clusters of offenders because of limited housing outside of protected areas. Florida is littered with these areas because the state fails to stop it, thus making it safe for some children and very unsafe for other children. Lawmakers fail to look at the big picture.
With respect to the Florida girl who is missing, so far, there is no reason to believe that a former sex offender is involved at all. Further, following the logic of NSMART Reports, it is more likely the abduction is family or close friend related. see NSMART-1 and Case Management for Missing Children Homicide Investigation.
Given what is known about sex offender recidivism today, it is unlikely (but not ruling them out either) that a former sex offender is involved, recidivism rates are very low. Source Department of Justice study published 2003 (NCJ 198281), a study of all kinds of sex offenders (the class), from which the following charts were constructed for a visual.
See: Sex Offenders -v- Non Sex Offenders
See: Offenders who re-offended against a child
Remember too, that most new sex crimes are committed by someone who has never before committed a sex crime. If recidivism rates generally fall into the 3-5% area (DOJ study of the whole class of sex offenders), then new crimes come from others in society. When citing recidivism studies it is important that, whatever study is cited, that it apply to the class of sex offenders and not a study of just a select group within the class, such as "pedophiles" who would have higher recidivism rates. Often such is done and it distorts the picture.
Too frequently folks jump on sex offenders as causing abductions because of the John Couey case (former sex offender who repeatedly asked for help before murdering Jessica and was repeatedly denied).
However, there is another way to review the Couey case which makes more sense in solving such cases. Instead of jumping to what might have driven a person to commit such a crime, look more to the known physical circumstances and evidence. Couey lived in Jessica's neighborhood (whether properly registered or not) living with his family member, a neighbor of the Lundsfords.
The Department of Justice -in 1997- studied who commits sex crimes and their relationship to the victim of the crime. We charted that study and you can find it here:
That chart shows that 93.3% of the crimes committed against those under 18, were committed by family, friends and acquaintances of the victim. Now, if you can truly rule out immediate family members (46.5%), then you must look at the remaining 46.8% and their relationship to the victim.
Remember, Couey was a neighbor of the Lundsfords, and "neighborhood" is where the search should be focused, those folks who would know of the girl (whether they actually knew the girl or not), and other folks who are in the life of the child who live close to where the child lives. Now, if you have read the NSMART Reports, this is exactly what the DOJ reported as to who most likely abducts children.
Finally, while this is pure speculation, it does follow what the Department of Justice has already reported in their NSMART studies mentioned above.
If anyone else has other thoughts then please submit comments (please keep them on topic and clean) and they will be posted.
This post is for a specific viewer, and no one is authorized to copy it anywhere else. eAdvocate (All Rights Reserved 2009)
January 11, 2009
FL- Clusters Of Shame
1-11-2009 Florida:
Laws force some sex offenders into motels, onto streets
Dozens of sex offenders in Volusia County are clustered in low-rent motels and rooming houses along major highways, a colony shunned by society for their crimes.
But more surprising, state officials say, is that a handful of these men -- convicted of raping, molesting or exposing themselves to their victims -- are homeless, staying in woods behind shopping centers, or sleeping in their vehicles on side streets or the parking lots of businesses.
It is not illegal, officials with the state's Department of Corrections say, to be homeless and a convicted sex offender or predator in Florida.
"For some offenders, it's very hard to find a place to live," says Corrections spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger. "Many of them have no money, or there are strict restrictions on where they can live."
Are people safe from convicted sex offenders who are crashing in the woods behind a grocery store or fast-food restaurant?
"No," says Daytona Beach Police Chief Mike Chitwood, who has often expressed disappointment that some transients in his city are registered sex offenders.
Cpl. Gina Baker, a detective with Holly Hill police, is not as blunt, but she does warn residents to be watchful.
"People should not feel unsafe," Baker said. "But they should be aware of their surroundings."
A Daytona Beach News-Journal query Tuesday showed there were 748 sex offenders registered in Volusia County and 82 in Flagler, according to Florida Department of Law Enforcement records. Because of residency restrictions and other factors, the number of registered offenders can change daily anywhere in the state, FDLE spokeswoman Heather Smith said.
The state says sex offenders cannot live within 1,000 feet of any place where children congregate. That includes churches, parks, schools and playgrounds. It also imposed a curfew that prohibits sex offenders from going near these places between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Some cities, such as Deltona and Daytona Beach Shores, have enacted stiffer ordinances that have stretched that restriction to 2,500 feet. Counties and municipalities may also impose their own curfews.
That's why many of these men -- the state's offender registry shows only five women registered in Volusia County as of Tuesday -- make their homes in no-frills motels along Ridgewood Avenue, or the claptrap rooming houses on the side streets off the main drag.
According to maps provided by the FDLE, more than 250 of the offenders registered in Volusia reside along or near Ridgewood Avenue from the southern border of Ormond Beach to Port Orange. That's about one-third of local registered sex offenders in a 10-mile stretch.
In New Smyrna Beach, for example, a handful of sex offenders have set up home at the Motel 44 off State Road 44, just west of downtown. Some learned of the locale from their probation officers.
The motels are practical for offenders because they're cheap and most are not near areas off-limits by law. They're also acceptable to both the FDLE and Department of Corrections officials who monitor offenders on probation. Those who are released from Department of Corrections supervision are checked on by local police monthly or quarterly.
"A hotel or a motel is a reportable address," said Smith of the FDLE.
But so are the woods behind the Publix supermarket on S.R. 44 in New Smyrna Beach, where sex offender Walter Hagaman -- who is on probation and under state supervision -- says he lives. Records show Hagaman was convicted of sexual assault in Michigan, and he is not considered a predator.
The state's sex offender registry shows at least 24 offenders are homeless in Volusia County, and at least eight of those are unaccounted for or have absconded.
Plessinger says transient sex offenders must provide some kind of an address -- if only an intersection, "Like 10th and Main" -- to comply with the state's registry requirements.
Richard Drinkard, 39, who has been spotted panhandling on Daytona Beach's streets, is one of the unaccounted for, records show. He is also a predator who was convicted of raping an incapacitated minor in Seminole County.
In addition, at least two other offenders who are on the state's registry and who provided a more official address, are actually homeless, records show. The men, Elliott Stites, 30, and Howell Branham, 38, of Daytona Beach, list the Homeless Assistance Center on North Street, and the Daytona Outreach Center on Ridgewood, as their residences, respectively.
Officials at both locations said neither man should be using these addresses.
"We've told him (Stites) to stop using our address," said Kassy Guy-Reed, who runs the center at 340 North St. "We have children coming here."
Jacksonville attorney Mark Gelman is outraged that state law allows sex offenders to be homeless. Gelman represents Mark Lunsford, whose 9-year-old daughter, Jessie, was raped and murdered in 2005 by repeat sex offender John Couey in Citrus County.
"If a sex offender says he's homeless, then his address should become the Volusia County Branch Jail," Gelman said. "Unless you watch them like a hawk, they should not be out there."
According to the Volusia County Sheriff's Office -- whose Career Criminal Unit alerts local police agencies anytime an offender moves into their jurisdictions -- 50 percent of all sex offenders repeat their crimes.
Those odds are even higher when they're homeless, Plessinger said.
"We find that when they (offenders) have a home, it's easier for them to get a job. When they have a job, they're less prone to re-offend," she said. "The ones who are transient are more prone to re-offend because they have nothing to lose." ..News Source.. by LYDA LONGA, Staff Writer
October 30, 2008
NY- Putnam law questioned as sex offender moves near Kent preschool
10-30-2008 New York:
KENT - A registered sex offender who recently moved to town may be in violation of a new county law that prohibits sex offenders from living in clustered housing developments or within 1,000 feet of places where children congregate.
But authorities aren't enforcing the law due to questions of its legality and because it isn't clear whether the offender's residence meets the definition of clustered housing and is less than 1,000 feet from a nearby preschool.
Meanwhile, local parents, including those whose children attend that preschool, are left worrying.
David McColl, 46, moved to a small home on Nemarest Club Road off Peekskill Hollow Road on Oct. 15, Kent police said. Nemarest Club is a community of small summer homes, off Peekskill Hollow Road near Route 301, that were later converted to year-round residences.
As required to by law, McColl notified Kent police of his new address. Police, in turn, notified local residents as well as any institution that might be affected, including local schools and the neighboring Kountry Kids Children's Center at 92 Richardsville Road.
McColl was convicted in April 2005 in New Jersey of felony sex offenses against three minor teenage girls and required to register as a sex offender. He attempted to have sexual contact with the girls, whom he did not know, according to New York's sex-offender registry. He is classified as a Level II offender, considered a moderate risk to reoffend, and is designated as a sexual predator, meaning that he has to check in with local authorities once every 90 days.
In March, Putnam legislators passed a law that, among other things, prohibits convicted sex offenders from living, working or spending time within 1,000 feet of places where children congregate. This includes schools, day cares and playgrounds.
The law also prohibits such convicts from living in a clustered housing development, defined as 10 or more single-family homes on less than one-third of an acre. It's unclear whether the Nemarest Club neighborhood meets that definition.
However, in August, the Legislature's Protective Services Committee agreed to re-evaluate legal and logistical aspects of the law and sent it back to the county's Law Department for revision.
Legislator Terry Intrary, R-Kent, who chairs the Protective Services Committee, said the revised law will come before his committee Nov. 12. He expects it will be approved and sent to the full Legislature for a December vote. After that, he said, it will be enforceable.
But that is little solace to parents living near McColl, including Peekskill Hollow Road resident Melissa Orser, who has five children ranging in age from 2 to 11. Orser said she and her neighbors want authorities to enforce the law.
McColl could not immediately be reached for comment. ..News Source.. by Terence Corcoran
October 5, 2008
FL- New law prohibits sex offenders from 'clustering'
In all the years that I have researched this topic I have never seen such a conglomeration of misinformation and misleading information in one place as is shown in this ordinance. This one takes the cake as they say. Someone or some persons have taken bits and pieces from dozens of places, out of context and without the remainder of what the sources say, and put it together to support the passage of this ordinance.
10-5-2008 Florida:
HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY (Bay News 9) -- Hillsborough County leaders recently passed a new law that prohibits groups of sex offenders from clustering in one neighborhood.
County Commissioners passed a new law that prohibits sex offenders from living together or "clustering." And offenders can occupy no more than 10 percent of units in a mobile home park. Landlords will also be punished if they allow it.
The problem of too many sex offenders living in one spot that was too close to children surfaced in Palm River a few months ago.
Carla Bowling who lived near the sexual offenders made issue of the high numbers of sexual offenders living so close.
"We don't need them around a family park," Bowling said.
Community activist Michelle Williams pushed for changes so sex offenders aren't so closely concentrated, and county commissioners listened.
"We needed to do whatever we had to do on the county level on the legislative side of it to keep our community and children safe," said Commissioner Kevin White.
The new law applies to sexual offenders and predators.
"It should give the sheriff's office, government officials a better way of tracking and keeping tabs on their locations and keeping them away from our children," White said.
White says he would like to have sexual offenders housed in a designated commune-like facility in Hillsborough County. The facility would be gated, well marked and a good distance from churches and schools
"Along the perimeter of that facility you could have the postings and the markings that this is a certified sex offender location -- please keep children so many feet away and children beware," White said. ..News Source.. by BayNews9.com
August 6, 2008
NY- Brookhaven enacts landmark sex offender ruling
Most amazing is, how can so many be blind to the Right of Association which has been supported by the U.S. Supreme court in many cases. Further, does that mean if two sex offenders are married they cannot live together? What if a family has two children, each a sex offender? Possibilites abound but do not exist in the minds of lawmakers. Are they capable of thought beyond it "Sounds Good," and have they ever read the Constitution and related court cases.
8-6-2008 New York:
Brookhaven Town enacted a landmark measure yesterday that makes it illegal for more than two registered sex offenders to live in the same single-family home.
The ordinance, which town officials and child protection advocates have said is the first of its kind in the state, is designed to break up clusters of sex offenders, such as the one in the Homestead Drive area of Gordon Heights. According to a state registry Web site, more than 40 registered sex criminals live in that roughly half-square-mile area.
-Are they living close because of earlier residency laws? If so, get rid of them and there wouldn't be a clustering problem.
The town board unanimously approved the measure last night after a public hearing. One resident, Timothy Timms of Coram, which adjoins Gordon Heights, asked the board to pass it because he fears "my children aren't safe on the street."
Other residents questioned whether the law is strict enough and will hold up in court.
Just before the vote, Councilwoman Kathleen Walsh, who proposed the measure, said she was confident the town had created "something enforceable" that will "create an environment where we can keep our children safe."
Proponents have said the measure, coupled with existing laws that prevent sex offenders from living near schools, parks and playgrounds, will help families take back communities such as Gordon Heights. The law imposes a fine of up to $2,500 per week on any registered sex offender who does not comply within 45 days of being notified. It also holds landlords accountable with a fine of up to $2,500 per week.
But some civil liberties advocates have said it might infringe on fair housing laws and sex offenders' right to associate with people of their choice. Sex crime experts have also questioned the wisdom of breaking up offenders who are supporting each other in rehabilitation.
Councilman Tim Mazzei said town officials believe the measure is within the confines of the law. "Any time you restrict individuals' liberty to travel, to live, to house, you are going to have objections," Mazzei said.
The biggest change is a ban on more than two offenders living in one single-family home, but town officials have said they might later tweak the law to include multifamily homes.
Last night's hearing came two months after the town increased the distance a sex offender must live from a school, park or playground from 1,000 feet to a quarter-mile. The town made the change to make local laws as strong as Suffolk County laws.
Parents for Megan's Law representatives have said the ordinance would be the state's first "saturation statute."
Laura Ahearn, the group's head, has said offenders will still need greater supervision and help finding jobs to reform. Town Supervisor Brian X. Foley said the clustering issue will eventually require a change in state law. ..News Source.. by PATRICK WHITTLE
August 1, 2008
NY- Bill targets clusters of sex offenders in Brookhaven
It is amazing that these politicians could not predict clustering from their prior actions on residency laws, but, blind they are, they seem to default to "It Sounds Good" without looking to future consequences. All be it, here if this passes, they hand a Constitutional Issue to the RSOs to take the ordinance to court, and the former sex offenders will win. Politicians are continually blind in their consideration of ways to push former sex offenders out of communities. Ignored by lawmakers is, that laws give RSOs a right to be in the community and ultil lawmakers understand that truth, they will continue to fail in their illegal quest.
8-1-2008 New York:
With proposed legislation that local officials and child protection advocates say would be a first in the state, the Brookhaven Town Board is considering a landmark "saturation statute" that would impose tighter restrictions on registered sex offenders and, proponents say, help break up Long Island's densest cluster of sex criminals.
The legislation, which will be the subject of a public hearing Tuesday, would make it illegal for more than two registered sex offenders to live in the same one-family dwelling.
The proposal is designed to break up clusters of sex offenders in communities such as Gordon Heights. There, 22 Level 2 and 3 sex offenders live in six of the houses on Homestead Drive and more than 40 offenders live within a roughly half-square-mile area, according to the state registry Web site.
The proposal, which could become law at Tuesday's town board meeting, has drawn widespread praise from community activists and child welfare groups, who say the regulation, coupled with existing laws that prohibit sex offenders from living near schools, would let families reclaim communities such as Gordon Heights.
Gordon Heights Civic Association president Tawaun Whitty said the law would also help sex offenders "restart their lives" by steering them away from neighborhoods and toward industrial and commercial areas with employment opportunities.
But sex crime experts and law enforcement officials have said sex offenders who are rehabilitating can function as a support network for each other, and further marginalizing their housing opportunities could hurt their chances of reforming.
Peter Gollon, president of the board of directors for the Suffolk chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said the proposal also could have constitutional flaws if it interferes with an offender's freedom to associate.
"The way this [would be] enforced is by placing restrictions on wherever children might be," Gollon said. "So the number of places where sex offenders are able to live has been reduced to very small areas."
Joe Abramo, a Suffolk County probation supervisor, said group living situations also can allow authorities to "better keep an eye on them."
At yesterday's town board work session, board members said the proposal probably will pass.
"This is yet another tool in my toolbox to keep sex offenders from clustering," said Councilman Keith Romaine, who represents the Mastic area, which struggles with a perception that it is a haven for sex criminals.
But Roberto Perez, 58, who was convicted in 2001 of first-degree attempted rape of a 15-year-old girl and now lives on Homestead Drive, said the law would only weaken his chance of reforming.
"Where am I going to walk, the sky? Where am I going to live, the moon?" Perez said through an interpreter.
The primary change would be a ban on more than two offenders living in one single-family home - though town officials said they might later tweak the law to include multifamily homes. Tuesday's hearing comes a month after the town increased the distance a sex offender must live from a school, park or playground - from 1,000 feet to a quarter-mile - bringing it in line with county law.
According to Parents for Megan's Law, Brookhaven's law would be the first such "saturation statute" in the state. Laura Ahearn, the group's executive director, said the Brookhaven proposal would be tougher than the county's regulations. But Ahearn and other advocates said offenders will still require greater supervision and help finding jobs to reform.
Town Supervisor Brian X. Foley said the clustering issue will eventually require a state law change or offenders will merely be shuffled from one community to the next.
Where they live
Locations where more than two sex offenders live in the same residence.
Number of registered level 2 and 3 sex offenders living in a residence.
SOURCE: ESRL; Teletlas
MORE THAN 40 registered sex offenders live within a roughly half-square-mile area of Gordon Heights and Coram, according to the state sex offender registry. That is the highest concentration of Level 2 and 3 sex offenders on Long Island. Some 22 offenders live in six houses on Homestead Drive.
There are several reasons for this concentration, according to experts, politicians and offenders:
The availability of low-cost rental housing
The location of the housing more than a quarter-mile from schools or playgrounds, as required by law
The willingness of landlords there to accept sex offenders
A lack of political clout - in a relatively poor, minority area - to stop the clustering
PENDING
LEGISLATION would prevent more than two sex offenders from living in a single-family home. A PUBLIC HEARING is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday at Brookhaven Town Hall, 1 Independence Hill, Farmingville. ..News Source.. by PATRICK WHITTLE
June 4, 2008
WI- Allouez Village Board Looks at Sex Offender Density Ordinance
6-4-2008 Wisconsin:
Tuesday night the Allouez Village Board gave initial approval to a sex offender ordinance. Unlike Green Bay's, which restricts where offenders can live, this is a residential density ordinance, which restricts how many offenders can live at a single address.
Allouez's ordinance would require no more than one registered sex offender at a residence.
The ordinance would not apply to family members.
It's a response to the State placing several sex offenders at a time at Ashwaubenon's Skylit Motel.
-Hopefully they do not have a jail, that is ONE ADDRESS.
If the Allouez Village Board still needs to give the ordinance final approval.
..News Source.. by WBAY-TV
May 13, 2008
MO- Sex offender laws: Good intentions gone bad?
5-17-2008 Missouri
Last month, the small town of Wyoming became the second city in Minnesota to adopt an ordinance that limits ? drastically ? where convicted sex offenders can live.
Now several cities, including Minneapolis, have begun looking at measures to address something that's perceived as a growing problem: sex offenders living near children.
But these ordinances often bring unintended consequences.
Take Wyoming, for example.
When Wyoming passed a law prohibiting predatory sex offenders from living near places where children congregate, even the mayor said he was surprised to see how little land was left.
"I think I and the rest of the council were surprised that it ended up being that narrow," Sheldon Anderson said.
When all was said and drawn, Wyoming had mapped out roughly 50 acres for sex offenders. And those 50 acres don't have city water and sewer lines.
Marvyl Blair, who lives on those 50 acres (her home gets water from a well and has its own septic system), says she feels "really uneasy" about what the city has done.
"If (the sex offenders) stay where they're supposed to be, it's fine," she said, shaking her head. "But if they come treadin' over here, you know, uh-uh."
As of now, there are no sex offenders living in Wyoming. There aren't any sex offenders living in Taylors Falls, either.
But Mayor Anderson said he wanted to pass a "proactive" measure after he spoke with the mayor of Taylors Falls at a League of Minnesota Cities conference in February.
"I don't think there's any community that has faith in the correctional system (or) the judicial system and the monitoring of these people right now," he said.
Wyoming passed a carbon copy of the Taylors Falls ordinance.
It says Level Three sex offenders, those considered most likely to re-offend, and people convicted of molesting children younger than 16, are not allowed to live within 2,000 feet of a school, day care center, or playground.
That left Wyoming with those 50 acres.
And with those 50 acres came another concern: One man owns all of the land (except Marvyl Blair's property), and he is not inclined to sell.
"We own all of the white area there," said Roger Bakeberg, when KARE 11 showed him a map of the sex offender area.
Bakeberg was asked if the law would essentially make it impossible for someone else to live on the land.
"Yes," he said, "unless I sold them the property. And then I don't know if they could get a building permit to build."
The Wyoming ordinance, and others like it, concern the man in charge of the state's sex offender policy.
"I think there are dual problems," said Eric Lipman, Minnesota's sex offender policy coordinator.
One problem is that offenders might skip town and stop registering their addresses, as state law requires.
"And then we're creating a new class of folks who go underground," Lipman said.
He said the other problem is: If registered offenders are forced to live on land where there's no housing, they might live in a structure that can not be registered, like a van.
"If they're in that van down by the river, and not at a stable address, it makes it harder for law enforcement to keep track and good supervisory controls on those offenders," Lipman said.
There also is the concern that popped up in a cornfield in Iowa.
On the outskirts of Cedar Rapids, the Ced-Rel motel has become a symbol of what can happen when good intentions go bad.
Since the state of Iowa passed a 2000-foot law similar the ordinances in Wyoming and Taylors Falls, the Ced-Rel's 24 rooms have been booked almost exclusively by sex offenders.
"I don't think they have any vacancies there right now," said Don Zeller, the sheriff of Linn County.
Zeller says his state's law ? which applies to all levels of sex offenders, not just Level Three offenders ? has made his job harder.
Before the law passed, Zeller said, his office knew "approximately where 90 percent of people were."
But now that the Ced-Rel has become known as a sex offender colony, some offenders say they're going to live there, and then, they check out.
"Right now, we're lucky if we know where 50 to 55 percent of them are," Zeller said.
On the other side of the cornfield, farmer Steve Boland is trying get used to having neighbors.
"Before all the sex offenders moved in there, the motel was basically empty," he said. "I'm definitely worried about having sex offenders right next door to me, and worried about the safety of my two children."
But Boland also says he has some sympathy for his neighbors: people who might be trying to rejoin society but are forced to live on its fringes.
Jeff Loveless, who moved into the Ced-Rel with his wife, Carla, is one of the neighbors.
"I don't want to be out of view. I want people to know I'm alive," he said. "What would happen if they sold this place, and a new owner came in and said, 'I don't want you people here?' You know? Where would I go?"
Loveless, who spent three and a half years in prison for having sex with his 15-year-old stepdaughter, says he can't look for work because Carla needs their car for her job.
"I want a place where me and my wife can settle out the rest of our life," he said, "and show society I ain't gonna mess up again."
Statistically speaking, when convicted offenders do mess up again, they're not likely to do something the 2000-foot laws are designed to prevent.
"The archetypical description of someone leaping from the bushes, while it does happen, it is in a minority of cases," Eric Lipman said.
Studies in Minnesota and Iowa say more than 80 percent of sex offenders do not attack strangers. They know, or they're related to, their victims.
And when strangers are the victims, like Dru Sjodin ? the college student who allegedly was kidnapped and killed by convicted sex offender Alfonso Rodriguez ? critics of 2000-foot laws point out that Rodriguez was living more than 30 miles away from the scene of the kidnapping.
"Restricting where they live is not going to change the behavior," said Diana Longrie, the mayor of Maplewood.
Last month, Maplewood rejected a 2000-foot law.
"There's nothing that says safe zones are really safe whatsoever," Longrie said.
The Department of Corrections prefers what Eric Lipman calls "aggressive supervisory controls."
He said cities considering residency ordinances should "give police officers the resources and time available to make more frequent checks on people who are registered as predatory offenders."
The corrections department also encourages parents to educate themselves about the dangers ? both real and perceived ? of sex offenders (see links below).
But in Wyoming, like cities across the state, the mayor says the resources simply don't exist.
"(State officials) want to shift the blame, or not the blame, but the work, toward the cities," Mayor Anderson said. "It's not our job. It's not our police department's job."
Hence the ordinance in Wyoming, which seemed good in theory, but appears much more complicated in practice.
"The only way it could happen," said Roger Bakeberg, the man who owns the 50 acres designated for sex offenders, "is if Mrs. Blair up there sold her house."
Marvyl Blair said she's OK with sex offenders nearby, but with one condition: "Just so they stay away from me." ..more.. By Scott Goldberg, KARE 11 News
February 13, 2008
Is state law is creating sex offender clusters?
2-12-2008 Kentucky:
LOUISVILLE (WAVE) -- It's a growing trend in many communities: citizens checking Kentucky's sex offender registry and finding large numbers of sex offenders living in their zip code, and in some cases, under one roof. WAVE 3 Investigator Connie Leonard searched for the answers.
Convicted sex offenders have a legal right to live in many local neighborhoods once they're out of jail. But when some people discover large numbers of them living in their communities, they don't like it. It's an issue that's making life difficult for the sex offenders themselves, their probation officers and the public at large.
The high profile case of four year old Ivan Cano brought attention to clustering issues. Ivan vanished and was later discovered dead. It was also discovered that nearly 60 sex offenders were living in Ivan's immediate neighborhood and one of them has now been charged in his murder.
"I don't trust any of these guys," said Herb Kennedy. "They've done it once and they're going to do it again."
More and more citizens checking Kentucky's sex offender registry are finding it's not just one or two sex offenders living in their zip code anymore, it's 10, 20, 30 or more. In some cases, they are finding that many living on one street. Kennedy says he was stunned when he checked the registry and found some 25 sex offenders living in a group of apartments in his south Louisville neighborhood.
"I was shocked, mainly because of my neighbors and the kids floating around here and stuff," Kennedy said.
One parent who lives in the apartment told WAVE 3 that a registered sex offender manages her building and has keys to every unit. The owner confirmed that, but told us the man is not a threat to the tenants or their children. When we looked him up on the registry we found out he was convicted of sodomy with a 12 year old.
"They are all over right now, we have 800 and some odd in this county," said Detective Mona Sullivan of the Louisville Metro Police.
Sex offender clusters are growing for several reasons. First, there's more support for victims and more are coming forward to prosecute. Second, the internet is creating new ways for predator offenders to get to kids. And finally, as jails get more crowded, more sex offenders are getting paroled and winding up in neighborhoods.
Sullivan, who is with LMPD's Sex Crimes Squad, says the Kentucky law that deems sex offenders can't live within 1,000 feet of a school, public playground or licensed day care is forcing sex offenders to cluster.
"There's no other place they can live. So if they find out they can live in this area and there's no schools in that area, it just hones them in a little tighter," Sullivan said.
When it comes to high concentrations, Sullivan says the positive thing is they are abiding by the registry.
"At least if they are where they say they are, you at least know that's where that person is," said Sullivan.
It's a huge problem for probation and parole officers trying to help clients turn their lives around. Kennedy says he was stunned when he checked the registry and found some 25 sex offenders living in a group of apartments in his south Louisville neighborhood.
"There's literally no place for them to go," said Evan Roach, a district supervisor with Kentucky Probation and Parole. "Huge sections of the city of metro Louisville are knocked out as places for them to live."
When officers do find transitional housing or apartment complexes that aren't in violation of the law, Roach says the phones start ringing.
"We do get calls from people asking ‘why are people being placed here?'" sadi Roach.
But Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway believes there's another reason neighborhoods are seeing more clusters.
"They know they're addicts, they go to prison, they tend to cluster in prison and the discussions that take place in prison are ‘Ok, where are we going after this?'" Conway said.
Conway also contends it's happening because the laws in the commonwealth aren't tough enough.
"Texas is a tough state. Indiana is tough state. Florida is a tough state. But Tennessee and Kentucky not so much, so many sex offenders say maybe we'll go there," said Conway.
If that sounds far fetched, the registry proved his point. A quick check of a random zip code led to WAVE 3 finding five of the first seven men listed on the page labeled "move in offenders" from Louisiana, Michigan, Oklahoma, Indiana and Florida.
Some critics say Kentucky's 1,000 feet away law is just a "feel good law" that's used to get politicians elected. They say if a sex offender wants to reoffend, they'll find a way to do it.
Keep in mind all sex offenders on the registry are not child molesters. One man on the registry told WAVE 3 News, he had sex with a teenager he thought was of age and was thrown in with everyone else. He's afraid he'll be harassed by neighbors who believe he's a child predator. ..more.. by Connie Leonard
