To American parents, living in the vicinity of convicted sex offenders is dangerous to the safety and security of their children. Considering that the overwhelming majority of stranger child abduction occurs within a quarter mile of the child’s home, the fear of living near sex offenders is understandable. However, sex offender registration aids in the prevention of abduction and abuse of children.
The evolution of sex offender registration laws has led many questioning the necessity of such strict and limiting laws. Since many sex offenders victimize individuals that they know and are close with, the laws restricting the sex offender in arbitrary neighborhoods are questionable in effectiveness.
Since the sex offender that victimizes strangers is rare, the efficacy of such laws has not been proven. That is, mandatory sex offender registration has not shown any evidence of making society safer to live in. However, in more than one case, sex offenders were murdered in hate when their information was posted publicly on the internet.
A question we should ask ourselves, then, is whether the peace of mind that mandatory sex offender registration offers parents is worth the time, money, and safety of rehabilitating sex offenders that it requires.
