The proposal by House Speaker Doug Mays, R-Topeka, to establish a 2,500-foot sex offender-free zone around schools, parks and licensed day care centers could make it more likely that sex offenders would reoffend, state correction officials told The Lawrence Journal-World. Forcing sex offenders from their homes could make them increasingly frustrated, isolated and unemployed — and more dangerous, the officials said. The officials also said there were no studies or other evidence indicating that the restrictions would increase safety.
Eagle reader Larry G. Houtz also calculated in a letter to the editor Sunday that if you drew a circle with a 2,500-foot radius around every public school and licensed day care center in Wichita, the entire city would likely be off limits.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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20 Comments
Maybe we can change the wording to the Wichita city council instead of sex offenders.
I do not understand this mentality of “proximity equals crime”. It is being used by the anti-porn people, saying that adult bookstores cannot be within so many feet of a church–I don’t understand that one. Would it > cause the pious to sin if they saw such an establishment?
And now the distance limitation for convicted sex offenders is equally silly. Where a convicted person lives does not regulate their behavior.
Simple silliness……
It may be feel-good legislation, but it makes no sense to release someone from prison, tell them they must register their address, and then not allow them to have an address. It’s a classic double bind that will force them back in prison. If we want them to never get out, then all sex crimes should warrant a life sentence up front, instead of this dishonest revolving door sentence.
Jed does it remind you of the marijuana tax stamp that you’re supposed to buy from the authorities and have on hand to match the qty. of evil weed you hope to score?
It rather reminds me of the ghettoization of Warsaw.
Tracy,Actually, you couldn’t buy that tax stamp until you actually had the weed, and proving that you had it constituted an admission of possessing untaxed weed! And yes, it does remind me of that, and yes, that law was ruled unconstitutional, which this one should be!
I could care less about the rights of any sex offender, they made their choices, they can live with the consequences. The recidivisim rate is pretty high, so at the very least they need to be registered and regularly monitored. They can put them all on a deserted island for all I care, that’s were they deserve to be.
Damoon,Are there any deserted islands left that are big enough to hold ‘em all, and are still escape-proof? Prisons are still the best solution for the worst of them, and in absence of a cure, a life with no possibility of parole sentence is the only sane solution, if we’re willing to pay for it. We also need to make a distinction between hard-core perverts and status offenders. That hasn’t been properly dealt with.
We don’t even lock up murders for life, I doubt the “life without the possibility for parole” for a sex offender will fly with the ACLU screaming about their “rights”.If it was up to me, they’d be lined up against a wall and shot, or at least castrated and lobotomized, then sent to an island. Like murderers, there should be no place in our society for those that prey on children or vulnerable adults for their sexual gradification. Dennis Rader got off way to easy as far as I’m concerned.
I understand recitivism is high with these offenders, but humans are ocassionally capable of change.(without a lobotomy)
Damoon,Want to know the worst possible punishment for Rader? Put him in a cell for the rest of a very long life, and completely forget about him!And remember that if they don’t get their basic rights, neither do you!
Tracy, sexual predators don’t change, maybe they mellow out with age and don’t have the energy to act out, but their compulsions don’t go away. It’s a mental illness under the personality disorder catagory. The only safe thing to do is lock them up or keep them under strict supervision.
Jed, I don’t worry about my basic rights because I don’t break the law or prey on my fellow man. I don’t give a damn about the rights of predators, as far as I’m concerned, they shouldn’t have any. If they allow Rader to have his crayons, I’ll really be pissed!
Damoon,” I don’t worry about my basic rights because I don’t break the law or prey on my fellow man.”And you can thank your basic rights that you are still a free person! When DNA testing became available, an awful lot of men who were labelled “sexual predators” turned out not to be, and prosecutors all over the country were doing backflips to keep prisoners from being tested! Someday some new test may come along that will exonerate others. Do you want to be the person that has to tell some guy “Sorry we took away all your rights?”
I’d like to know how many convicted prepetrators have been exonerated on the basis of DNA evidence. I’m willing to bet it’s pretty rare. What happens more often is a perpetrator gets slapped on the hand then freed upon society to continue victimizing.Still, I get your point. I just think we worry too much about criminal’s rights and not enough about victim’s rights.
In theory anyway, they aren’t criminals until it’s been proven in court.Last time I looked, which was a while back, it was over 7,000 prisoners released on DNA evidence, mostly men convicted of rape and related crimes. It’s not that rare! Eyewitness testimony has been repeatedly shown to be less than reliable, and rape has been the most easily testable crime. What about all the others that aren’t?
Jed, I’m not sure where you got your info, but I did some searching and the number of those convicted that have been exonerated due to DNA evidence is about 350, and that includes every crime catagory including murder and rape. So considering the numbers of those who have been convicted, it’s still pretty rare.
I forgot to include that there are approximately 2.03 million people incarcerated in the US.
Convicted sexual predators are all around us in Wichita. I know for a fact about a man who raped a young girl and has been repeatedly in and out of prison for not following through with his sex crime therapy. He has probably only spent a total time of 3 years in prison for his crime. This man has 3 young children by differnt women and has a 4th on the way. How does he have a 4th on the way you might ask? Because he is free and walking around town and having free sex with whomever he wants. As I type this he is living directly across the street from a daycare. Proximity laws are pointless. Why does this kind of scum even get a chance to get out? I’m telling everyone about this because I want them to know what is going on in our judicial system (not much). The icing on the cake in this situation. For the measly 3 years he spent in prison, he does not have to pay any back child support for the 3 kids he already has. Who does support this sexual offenders kids you might ask? YOU ARE. They are all on welfare and foodstamps and wic just as his new kid will be. Yep, that’s right. If a man is serving prison time he does not have to pay any child support nor does he owe any back support for the time he was incarcerated. To all of the people out there who do take care of their kids whether their married or not. Does this seem fair to you? Does it seem right that this crimimal is able to walk the streets and keep creating more welfare children with numerous women of low class and zero self esteem. What can we do about it? I don’t have a clear cut answer. This is a much bigger problem that carries over into everyones life. It’s everyones problem now.
J, I think that the government should pay people like that to be sterilized. There is a program like this in California for women who are drug addicts. The cost is minimal compared to the cost of raising a child in the system, and it gives the person a chance to be responsible, maybe for the first time in their life. Of course the ACLU is screaming about this, “coercion” and “reproductive rights”, you know. Never mind the right of a child to be born drug free!
Damoon,Did you see KAKE’s story last night, about kids as young as 10 being put on the Sex Offender Registry? Seems more than a bit draconian!