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<br />by California voters in November, increases the
<br />state's distance matket law, now prohibiting
<br />residences within 2,000 feet of a school. It also
<br />mandates longet sentences and tequites all sex
<br />offenders to be monitored with GPS. The law
<br />makes most of Los Angeles, San Francisco, and
<br />San Diego, as well as the centtal areas of other
<br />cities, off-limits to sex offendets.
<br />The consequences of being zoned out of
<br />affotdable housing are thteefold, expetts say.
<br />Registeted sex offendets unable to find housing
<br />in the cities and suburbs are pushed into rural
<br />areas, where access to transportation and jobs
<br />may be scarce. Counselors and other treatment
<br />providers, as well as a reliable support group of
<br />peers and family, might also be out of reach.
<br />Yet, stable housing, employment, support, and
<br />treatment are all proven positive factors in the
<br />rehabilitation of offenders, Levenson says.
<br />The law also puts offenders at risk of be com-
<br />ing homeless. In October, an informal review
<br />of the Iowa Sex Offender Registry for Polk
<br />County, where Des Moines is located, showed
<br />that five of the 473 registered offenders listed
<br />their address as "homeless." Others claimed a
<br />motley assortment ofliving arrangements: 25
<br />lived in motels, four at rest areas, and five in
<br />trucks, cars, or tents. Two offenders listed their
<br />address as "under Interstate btidge off northeast
<br />14th Street."
<br />Offenders are also slipping off the law enforce-
<br />ment community's radar, making monitoring
<br />impossible. On Polk County'swebsite, more than
<br />35 offenders' addresses simply read "whereabouts
<br />unknown," a registry category that is growing
<br />rapidly in Iowa.
<br />Last January, the Iowa County Attorneys As-
<br />sociation released a public statement denouncing
<br />the 2,000-foot ban. In addition to the objections
<br />mentioned above, it adds that law enforcement
<br />budgets are being strained by the laws without
<br />providing any "demonstrated protective effect."
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<br />H (' sou l' (' C S
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<br />Reading. "The Impact of Residency Restrictions
<br />on Sex Offenders and Correctional Management
<br />Practices: A Literature Review" is a 2006 study
<br />prepared for the California Research Bureau.
<br />The 2004 study "Sex Offender Recidivism: A
<br />Simple Question" is available at www.psepc-
<br />sppcc.gc.caI publications/ corrections/200403-
<br />2_e.asp.
<br />Online. The Association for the Treatment of
<br />Sexual Abusers is at www.atsa.com. The Center
<br />for Sex Offender Management: www.csom.org.
<br />The California Coalition Against Sexual Assault:
<br />www.calcasa.org.
<br />
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<br />The statement also notes that rhe laws punish
<br />families of offenders, "whose lives are unfairly
<br />and unnecessarily disrupted by the restriction,
<br />causing children to be pulled out of school and
<br />away from friends, and causing spouses to lose
<br />jobs and community connections."
<br />
<br />What's a city to do?
<br />The political pressure to keep sex offenders away
<br />is intense, as Alex Edmondson, the Covington,
<br />Kentucky, commissioner who came out against
<br />a local law, can attest.
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<br />On one residential street in Davenport, Iowa, a
<br />dozen sex offenders live in apartment buildings
<br />like this one. Detective Rich Tubbs says released
<br />offenders call the police lookingfor legal housing.
<br />
<br />In September, O'Fallon, Missouri, passed
<br />a law that surpasses the state law, creating a
<br />2,000-foot buffer around day care centers and
<br />a 3,000-foot zone around schools, libraries,
<br />pools, and parks. Earlier that month in the
<br />St. Louis Post-Dispatch, city council member
<br />Pierce Conley summed up the commonly held
<br />view among many politicians and citizens: "I
<br />just don't see why anyone would vote against
<br />it. It's kind oflike speaking against the flag, for
<br />God's sake."
<br />Now cities are competing to ~ake ever stricter
<br />regulations ensuring that sex offenders stay out
<br />of their town. Within less than a month of the
<br />approval of the O'Fallon law, another Charles
<br />County city, DardennePrairie, followed suit.
<br />Four other municipalities either have bills in
<br />the works or are considering drafting proposals,
<br />according to the Post-Dispatch.
<br />"From a victim's advocate point of view, it is
<br />not acceptable for one community to push out
<br />offenders and say, 'We're going to protect our
<br />kids but not yours,'" says CALCASA's Suzanne
<br />Brown-McBride.
<br />"What residency restrictions tend to do is
<br />make people pretend there's nowhere," she
<br />adds. "What planning forces you to do is find
<br />somewhere." Both Brown-McBride and her
<br />colleague, CALCASA director of public affairs
<br />Robert Coombs, say planners are an untapped
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<br />resource in the struggle to find housing situations
<br />that are suitable for offenders and acceptable to
<br />the community. "Planners are masterful at those
<br />conversations," says Coombs. "They understand
<br />community dynamics and the difficulty of put-
<br />ting in something that people dontwant." Plan-
<br />ners may also appreciate how good placement
<br />can actually enhance community safety.
<br />Brown-McBride advises thinking ahead,
<br />noting that it is easy to find information on
<br />the number oflocal sex offenders in prison and
<br />the length of their sentences. Group homes or
<br />other facilities can be planned, zoning can be
<br />changed to allow more flexible land uses, and
<br />community education can begin-long before
<br />a sex offender's imminent return sparks a crisis.
<br />She notes that planning and law enforcement can
<br />build stronger connections, perhaps by locating
<br />police substations in areas where housing for sex
<br />offenders is also planned.
<br />"In places where proactive planning has not
<br />happened, sex offenders and unwanted popu-
<br />lations of all kinds tend to go into places that
<br />are low-income, fragile, stressed," Brown-Mc-
<br />Bride says. She notes that some local planning
<br />efforts-such as a facility for sexually violent
<br />predators-are under way, but few broad
<br />initiatives exist.
<br />Brown- McBride goes so far as to suggest that
<br />zoning might be relaxed to allow sex offenders
<br />to live in a light industrial area rather than a
<br />residential zone. James Hill, the convicted
<br />sex offender familiar with GIS and planning
<br />issues, takes issue with that. "A light industrial
<br />area? That makes me not a person, but a thing.
<br />Does that make it easier for people? I find that
<br />appalling. "
<br />On the other hand, "is it better than not
<br />having a place at all? Well yes, of course it is,"
<br />he admits.
<br />As a sex offender treatment provider, Da-
<br />vid D'Amora frequently works with victims'
<br />advocates, police and parole officers, and local
<br />governments to conduct community education
<br />sessions, both before a crisis happens and in the
<br />midst of one. He suggests a different approach.
<br />"Defining this as a criminal justice problem is a
<br />terrible mistake. This should be a public health
<br />issue," he says.
<br />"The problem with residency restrictions is
<br />that they almost always accomplish the oppo-
<br />site" of what they are intended to do, he adds.
<br />"Interventions like these actually increase risk.
<br />If we truly care about public safety, we need to
<br />understand that we've put policies in place that
<br />make communities less safe."
<br />
<br />Meghan Stromberg is Planning's senior editor.
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