Clearly Iowa's residency laws are not working!
Residency laws are enacted under the pretext of protecting children when in fact they are being used to banish offenders. Hence they violate the principle of Megans' laws. Residency laws are NIBISMs and no more. Still today not one crime has been identified that these laws would have prevented had they been in place before the crime. Lawmakers simply refuse to recognize that fact. |
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3-15-2006 Iowa:
Iowa's Residency Rules Drive Sex Offenders Underground |
.CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — One cornfield beyond the trim white farmhouse where the Boland family lives and a road sign warns, "Watch for children and dogs," is a faded motel. For years a layover for budget-conscious motorists and construction crews, the motel has lately become a disquieting symbol of what has gone wrong with Iowa's crackdown on sexual offenders of children. With just 24 rooms, the motel, the Ced-Rel, was home to 26 registered sex offenders by the start of March.
"Nobody wants to have something associated with sex offenders right beside them," said Steve Boland, a farmer and father of two who learns about his newest neighbors every few weeks when sheriff's deputies stop by with photographs of them. "Us showing the kids some mug shots sure wasn't going to help," Mr. Boland said. "How were they going to remember that many faces?"
The men have flocked to the Ced-Rel and other rural motels and trailer parks because no one else will, or can, have them. A new state law barring those convicted of sex crimes involving children from living within 2,000 feet of a school or day care center has brought unintended and disturbing consequences. It has rendered some offenders homeless and left others sleeping in cars or in the cabs of their trucks.
And the authorities say that many have simply vanished from their sight, with nearly three times as many registered sex offenders considered missing since before the law took effect in September. "The truth is that we're starting to lose people," said Don Vrotsos, chief deputy for the Dubuque County sheriff's office and the man whose job it is to keep track of that county's 101 sex offenders. [snip]
Even more worrisome to law enforcement officials in Iowa, the restrictions appear to be leading some offenders to slip out of sight. Of the more than 6,000 people on Iowa's registry of sex offenders, 400 are now listed as "whereabouts unconfirmed" or living in "non-structure locations" (like tents, parking lots or rest areas). Last summer, the number was 140. "When it comes down to it, we would rather know where these people are living than to have the restriction," said Deputy Vrotsos. He said that he devoted at least 20 hours extra a week, along with the work of two clerks, to administering the new state law.
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: by MONICA DAVEY
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UPDATE 1-27:
Hats off to Iowa Media for bringing us viewpoints of those involved in the issue: Over 90% of the victims know the offender because the offender is a family member, friend, or acquaintance within their daily life. Schools, day cares, parks and playgrounds play no part in those crimes, and not one person has been able to show that a 1,000 foot barrier around these places prevents anything, nor have any crimes been reported that could have been prevented. Adopting a Zero Tolerance policy is OK, but vision, NOT VOTES, should be the goal! Notice the EFFECT of the LAWS! |
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1-23-2006 Iowa:
Victim: Banished offenders pose greater risk than before |
.My interest in sex offenders began 36 years ago, when, as a child of 7, I was enticed to accompany a stranger to his home. I spent a day subjected to experiences best left unspoken. I was left with scars that have followed me my entire life. I know what it means to be a victim of this crime. So it seems unlikely that I would be opposed to the 2,000-foot rule. But each newspaper article I read and each new community that jumps on the "not in our town" bandwagon causes me to shake my head in dismay.
We must remember that not all sex offenders are the same. High-risk individuals, those with the greatest propensity to commit another sexual crime, frequently become fugitives from justice, fleeing to another state, where they aren't known. Note that violent sexual crimes against children are rarely perpetrated by someone who is registered as an offender in the city where the child lives.
In contrast to high-risk offenders, low-risk offenders have had their lives turned upside down. Forced to move, many of these individuals can no longer find affordable housing. Probation officers have noted that low-risk individuals who were doing exceptionally well before the law was enforced have now regressed, many to their initial states of psychological disarray, returning to thought patterns that may transform them into high-risk persons.
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: by GARY SWENSON, SPECIAL TO THE REGISTER
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1-23-2006 Iowa:
Victim: 2,000-foot rule doesn't address abuse at home |
.A park. A school. A playground. A library. A 2,000-foot law still would not have protected me. I was sexually abused as a child. I was not in a park, at my school, on the playground or near the library. I was at home. And from the many support groups, classes and group-therapy sessions that I have been involved in, it appears that many others have a similar story.
Many children who are sexually abused encounter their abusers in gatherings of family and family friends. The 2,000-foot law, when originally presented, sounded like a great idea. Keep convicted offenders away from children or places where children are likely to be present. Who would disagree with that? Most of the sexual abuse that the public is exposed to occurs in public places or when children are abducted. This is public knowledge that is transmitted through local and national media. But who is talking about where the majority of child sex-abuse occurs? No one. Not even the victims.
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: by LEANNE BUELL, SPECIAL TO THE REGISTER
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1-23-2006 Iowa:
Offender: Treatment can work, but instability hurts |
.Any man discharged from his prison sentence has served his term and should be allowed to re-enter society as any other felon does. I am a patient within Iowa's civil-commitment unit for sexual offenders, have participated in treatment for the past decade and make these observations: First, the media have grossly distorted reports of sex-offender recidivism rates. In reality, studies from Iowa indicate that over a 10-year period, fewer than 10 percent reoffend after going through treatment. Second, there has been an incessant push to educate children about stranger danger. The truth: The vast majority of offenses are perpetrated by someone known to the child or the child's family.
Third, there is a myth that sex offenders cannot be treated. For those men willingly involved in the treatment process, behavioral and attitudinal changes can take place that will lower that person's risk considerably. Insight is gained in treatment: A person learns to combat denial and to replace it with honesty. He learns to replace blame with ownership and personal accountability. He learns about the factors that combine in a person's life to create a sex offender, a drug addict, alcoholic, domestic abuser or gambler.
The offender has never learned appropriate coping responses so he resorts to what has been modeled in his life. All this needs to be relearned through treatment. The major factors that have led us into our offensive behaviors are rejection, anger, fear and feeling a loss of power and control. The new laws and residency restrictions destabilize people when they desperately need stability and acceptance. That serves to unravel the offender's ability to cope, making him angry at society, causing him to be rejected and alone at a time when support is critical to success.
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: by HAROLD WILLIAMS, SPECIAL TO THE REGISTER
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1-23-2006 Iowa:
Lawmaker: Iowa should adopt zero-tolerance policy |
.Many Iowans were shocked by recent news of Vermont Judge Edward Cashman's decision to sentence a man to only 60 days in jail for repeatedly raping a 6-year-old girl. Since the ruling, thousands of calls have poured into the Vermont Statehouse. People are outraged — and rightly so — that the needs of innocent children have taken a back seat to those of sexual predators. The first purpose of government is protecting public safety. As government officials, state lawmakers have a responsibility to ensure safe neighborhoods and communities for children and their families.
It was with this responsibility in mind that Iowa legislators approved a 2002 law requiring certain sex offenders to live at least 2,000 feet away from schools and child-care centers. Such laws have been adopted by at least 14 states, and more are considering the issue every day.
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: by LARRY McKIBBEN, SPECIAL TO THE REGISTER
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1-24-2006 Iowa:
Prosecutors call for end to 2,000-foot ban for sex offenders |
.The state's prosecutors urged lawmakers Monday to eliminate a requirement that convicted sex offenders live more than 2,000 feet from a school or day care. The Iowa County Attorneys Association said the restriction does little to protect children and makes it virtually impossible for offenders to find housing in many of Iowa's cities.
The prosecutors asked lawmakers to offer other safeguards for children, such as creating "protected areas" where offenders would have limited access, and to ban local governments from enacting their own tough residency restrictions. After the state implemented the residency ban, many local governments expanded it to include parks, libraries and other places where children gather.
Prosecutors said the ban also makes it tougher to prosecute sex offenders, because defendants are more leery of accepting a plea bargain.
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: by Press-Citizen.com
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1-24-2006 Iowa:
Prosecutors: Dump offender rule |
.Iowa’s county prosecutors asked lawmakers Monday to scrap the state’s controversial 2,000-foot sex offender residency restriction and replace it with what they argue are more effective strategies to protect children.
The Iowa County Attorney’s Association insists the current law — which bars sex offenders whose victims are children from living within 2,000 feet of a school or day care — is ineffective, costly and actually harms law enforcement efforts.
The group also urged the Legislature to throw out a string of local ordinances that place even tougher limits on where sex offenders can legally live.
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: by QCTimes
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1-24-2006 Iowa:
Group insists current sex offenders residency law is ineffective, costly and harms law enforcement efforts |
.[snip] A statement delivered to the Capitol by the association outlined numerous concerns raised by the residency restriction. The group contends there is no evidence the law keeps children safe and may even diminish public safety by scattering homeless offenders to unknown locations. “If they do not register, law enforcement and the public do not know where they are living,’’ the group’s statement said.
The law, according to the association, is overly broad and focuses on crimes against children perpetrated by strangers when 80 top 90 percent of sex crimes are committed by relatives or acquaintances. Prosecutors also insist the rule is complicating their efforts to reach plea agreements with offenders that spare young victims from the trauma of a trial.
“There is no demonstrated protective effect of the residency requirement that justifies the huge draining of scarce law enforcement resources in the effort to enforce the restriction,’’ the association argued.
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: by Todd Dorman Muscatine Journal Capital Bureau
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1-24-2006 Iowa:
Replace molester laws with safety-zones, urge attorneys |
.Iowa county attorneys said Monday that the state's law banning child molesters from living near schools is a failure and called for alternatives, including restrictions on where offenders can go. The controversial law, which went into effect last summer , prohibits people convicted of sex offenses against minors from living within 2,000 feet of schools and child care centers.
The Iowa County Attorneys Association issued a statement saying that the restriction "does not provide the protection that was originally intended and that the cost of enforcing the requirement and the unintended effects on families of offenders warrant replacing the restriction with more effective protective measures."
The association proposed erasing the 2,000-foot limit and suggested replacing it with so-called safety zones - areas that sex offenders would be prohibited from entering, such as schools and parks.
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: by TIM HIGGINS, REGISTER STAFF WRITER
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1-22-2006 Iowa:
Twice as many sex offenders missing, state officials say |
.Iowans are no closer to knowing where dangerous sexual predators live, despite huge amounts of time, money and political rhetoric spent on better tracking them over the past year. Authorities cannot find twice as many sex offenders since a state law went into effect last year banning offenders from living near child care centers and schools, according to new statistics obtained by the Iowa Department of Public Safety. As of last week, 298 of more than 6,000 sex offenders statewide were unaccounted for by law enforcement vs. 142 on June 1, 2005.
The number of missing offenders — roughly 1 in 20 now, vs. 1 in 46 before the state's 2,000-foot law went into effect — is a conservative count, police say. It does not include offenders who lie about their whereabouts, those who no longer register or those who have moved into the state undetected. Numerous law enforcement officials — police, sheriffs and prosecutors in rural and urban areas — said last week that the gap in the offenders' whereabouts underscores the myriad problems associated with the 2,000-foot law.
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: by LEE ROOD, REGISTER STAFF WRITER
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