Turning Sex Offenders Into Homeless Wanderers: Does Anyone Benefit?

The last place a community wants a sex offender is wandering the streets at night. Unfortunately, more than 30 states have laws with living restrictions that have made released sex offenders homeless.

These laws (modeled after the original Jessica's Law drafted by Florida in 2005) have plenty of flaws — starting with the fact that living restrictions are simply a misguided idea. Iowa has shown some intelligence by limiting where sex offenders can visit, instead of where they can live. However, a majority of states, like California, are adhering to the restrictions written into Florida's original law.

The San Francisco Chronicle offers one window into the dangerous side effects of Jessica's Law through the story of Earl Taylor, a sex offender who is forced to sleep in his truck at night and roam the streets during the day because his house is located near a school. As the paper reports, Jessica's Law means that about one third of California's approximately 6,700 sex offender parolees are homeless. This is particularly an issue in "dense cities with many parks and schools such as San Francisco," where fully 84% of paroled sex offenders don't have a steady home.

Take a look at this map of San Francisco to see the clear impracticality of the state's residency restrictions. Limiting where sex offenders can live doesn't mean the city is sex-offender free. It just means that they're out on the street instead of at home.

Yes, it's important to keep sex offenders away from children. But there are more holistic ways to accomplish that than by kicking offenders out of their houses. Police need to differentiate among the severity of offenses and redirect their energy toward monitoring those offenders that are most dangerous. Programs should focus on social reintegration and psychological help that can prepare sex offenders for release.

In the end, where sex offenders live matters much less than where they go. And if they are homeless they will spend a lot more time going places. California and other states need to modify their laws to make sure sex offenders are reintegrating positively into society — not wandering homeless through our streets.

Photo Credit: Joe Mabel