Is Homelessness Inevitable for Sex Offenders?
When it comes to the way our society handles registered sex offenders, the jury is still out. Clearly, there is a great need to protect children and prevent recidivism. But at what cost?
Criminal Justice blogger extraordinaire Matthew Kelly wrote an enlightening piece yesterday about a man who had served his time and, thanks to his status as a sex offender, could not stay in any city homeless shelters. He was found dead on a snowy street earlier this week. Here's an excerpt:
On Monday morning, the body of 52-year-old Thomas Pauli was found in the snow near a Grand Rapids, Michigan, recycling shop. He had recently been denied access to the city's two homeless shelters, because both are within 1,000 feet of a school, where it's illegal for sex offenders to sleep - even for one night, even in the winter. So he was sleeping on the street. The temperature dipped to 9 degrees Farenheit and he died in the snow.
Mr. Pauli's story is tragic for any person, but particularly when the law seems to make his fate inevitable.
California has a similar law (Jessica's Law) which bans sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park. Since it was passed in November of 2006, homelessness among registered sex offenders increased 800 percent in just a year and a half.
The unfortunate irony in this situation is that homelessness increases the likelihood of recidivism among sex offenders (and other ex-offenders). In other words, Jessica's Law could be causing the very crimes it was meant to prevent. A lack of stable housing makes it near impossible for offenders to maintain a job and receive counseling. Furthermore, when sex offenders are not registered at a home address, it is difficult to track where they are staying, which could be concerning for parents wanting to safeguard their children.
So what does this mean for these residency requirement laws? Will "registered sex offender" become the next prevalent group forced into homelessness? Or will laws that dramatically limit housing options for registered sex offenders be deemed unnecessary?
Shannon Moriarty
has worked in various homeless shelters and service organizations around the country. She is a graduate student studying housing and urban policy at Tufts University.
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