Sex Offender
The way that sex offenders should be treated is a matter of relative judgment; that is, everyone has their own opinion based on different approaches. All states have laws pertaining to sex offenders and what they should or should not do. However, it is becoming a common trend to have counties and municipalities formulating their own ordinances on the same. One such county is the Otsego County located in the State of New York. This county has an ordinance that states that sexual offenders should not stay within a radius of 1000ft from any place where potential victims reside. On face value this ordinance seems similar to the state laws that require a similar radius. A closer look however reveals that the state laws only limit such residence from schools while the county ordinance is from any place where children go to in masses. The county ordinance calls such places the child safety zone and includes among others schools, nurseries, day cares, and children homes.
The state laws in Connecticut require all sex offenders to register and notify their authorities in case they are to change their place of residence. The state however has no restrictions on residency of such offenders. On the contrary, counties such as Danbury have restrictions on residency that allow the police to arrest and fine sex offenders that violate these restrictions. Danbury’s ordinance restricts sex offenders from public parks, swimming pools, public beaches, and recreation centers (Eady-Norman, 2007, para 3).
In my opinion, these ordinances are necessary to ensure the general safety of potential victims due to the rate of recidivism among sex offenders. Most of the state laws leave loopholes that may put the potential victims at risk. The local ordinances are hence necessary to ensure this does not happen.
REFERENCES
Eady-Norman, S. (2007). Sex Offenders’ Residency Restrictions. Old Research Report.
Retrieved from http://www.cga.ct.gov/2007/rpt/2007-R-0380.htm
