What should we do with sex offenders?

Protesters' signs in California against a group home for sex offenders

The Associated Press

Most people don't want sex offenders living next door. But where should they go?

Featured Topic | Posted 36 weeks 1 day ago

What should we do with sex offenders?

Most Americans react to sex crimes with revulsion. And understandibly so. But once a sex offender has completed his sentence, then what? The people of Wilmer, Texas are confronting that dilemma, but with a twist: A registered sex offender arrested in a police sting for trying to arrange sex with a 15-year-old girl on the Internet is running for mayor of the Dallas, Texas suburb.

James Brian Sliter, 42, said he's sorry and needs to prove he can be an asset to his community. The incident occurred in 2004, when Sliter went to a home where police, and not a teenager, waited for him. "People need to realize that people make mistakes, and they need to look past those mistakes and forgive and move on," Sliter told Dallas television station KTVT. "I'm not asking anybody to condone what I did."

Sliter is eligible to run for office because he was never convicted, instead receiving "deferred adjudication."

But what about the more hard-core offenders? States and counties across the United States have increasingly clamped down on where sex offenders may live and work. Californians in 2006, for example, overwhelmingly passed Prop. 83 -- a.k.a. Jessica's Law -- which effectively barred sex offenders from living in large cities.

Are such laws effective? Are they necessary? Do they protect society? What should states and counties do with the hundreds of thousands of sex offenders out of jail and living among us?

Ben likes: Confine or track them

George Runner/Los Angeles Times

Distancing sex offenders 2,000 feet from schools, parks and other places where children gather is another contemporary idea, and one that California voters have embraced. Parents simply don't want sex offenders living across the street from schools and parks.

Again, a few cities have cried foul, claiming that it is nearly impossible to find housing with the distancing restriction and thus homelessness among sex offenders is sure to occur in abundance. But so far, the claims have been based on guesswork, not actual incidents of homelessness. Densely populated San Francisco County may be the exception. But I have always said if there is a bona fide problem with housing, then I would support revisiting the distancing for that county -- maybe adjust the distance to meet San Francisco's needs.

In the meantime, let's give Jessica's Law time to work. In doing so, we will heed the will of the people who believe in this law.

Joel likes: Rehabilitate them

New York Times

Of all the places that sexual predators could end up after prison, the worst is out of sight, away from the scrutiny and treatment that could prevent them from committing new crimes. But communities around the country are taking that risk, with zoning laws that banish pedophiles to the literal edges of society.

The problem with residency restrictions is that they fulfill an emotional need but not a rational one. It’s in everyone’s interest for registered sex offenders to lead stable lives, near the watchful eyes of family and law enforcement and regular psychiatric treatment. Exile by zoning threatens to create just the opposite phenomenon — a subpopulation of unhinged nomads off their meds with no fixed address and no one keeping tabs on them.