Questioning sex offender residency restrictions
Today’s Cincinnati Enquirer has a series of interesting pieces discussing sex offender residency restrictions in Ohio and Kentucky. The lead article, entitled “Sex offender limits: Too far?,” begins this way:
It seems like a common-sense precaution to protect children: Prohibit sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school. But that simple premise — which has been law in Ohio since 2003 and Kentucky since 2006 — is quickly degenerating into a legislative free-for-all, fraught with unintended consequences, controversy and constitutional questions.
The Ohio and Kentucky supreme courts are poised this fall to decide if the laws are unconstitutional because they subject offenders to further punishment after they’ve served their sentences. Meanwhile, evidence suggests that residency restrictions may be counterproductive, forcing sex offenders underground and lulling parents into a false sense of security.
Hamilton County sheriff’s deputies, for example, have arrest warrants out for 49 sex offenders who should have registered their addresses — but who have dropped out of sight. Seven of them simply stopped registering after the city of Cincinnati told them they couldn’t live within 1,000 feet of a school.
And there’s this: As more areas become off-limits, sex offenders are being concentrated into neighborhoods with few schools and inexpensive housing — neighborhoods like Westwood and Florence, an Enquirer analysis of sex offender registration data shows.
Here are some of the aditional piece in the Enquirer‘s coverage of this issue today: