Sex-offender residency restrictions: protecting one neighborhood at the expense of yours

We believe that restricting sex offenders from living in the vicinity of schools and playgrounds is unnecessary, ineffective, and in many cases even counterproductive. Residency restrictions are unnecessary: Sex-offender recidivism rates are among the lowest of all crimes, and many people registered as sex offenders were not convicted of crimes involving children to begin with. Residency restrictions are ineffective: The vast majority of sex offenses are committed by someone the victim knows, and in their own home, and sex offenders who do commit crimes against strangers tend not to do so in their own neighborhoods. And finally, residency restrictions are actually counterproductive: Such restrictions often drive many sex offenders into homelessness—where they cannot be tracked at all.

And most importantly for citizens reading this: Sex-offender residency restrictions will drive offenders out of neighborhoods with schools and playgrounds… and into ones without. Do you want to create any more undesirable sections of your city than those that already exist? How are those that will be living in the proposed “sex offender–safe zones” any better-equipped to deal with sex offenders in their midst than the “off-limits” zones? Do you know where your neighborhood falls within the proposed areas?

More coming soon

CURSOR’s activists are busy tackling the residency restriction bills in two cities currently, but more will be coming soon.