FL Policy Analyst: Residency Restrictions are Ineffective

A legislative policy analyst today told Florida legislators that sex offender residency restrictions do not work. The analyst cited studies from Minnesota, Colorado and Florida, which found no connection between where sex offenders lived and where they committed new crimes. From the Miami Herald:

Studies show that laws prohibiting sexual predators from living near schools and other places where children congregate do not prevent offenders from committing new crimes and may be counterproductive, a legislative policy analyst told a House panel Tuesday.

Marti Harkness, who specializes in criminal justice issues in the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, said better options would be to bar offenders from smaller zones near places where children gather and keeping tabs on them with electronic monitoring.

Florida prohibits certain sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of schools, day care centers, parks and other places that attract children, but some local governments have expanded the ban to as much as 2,500 feet, most notably in South Florida.

Those limits made it so difficult for sexual predators to find affordable housing in Miami-Dade County that some offenders have been living under a bridge in view of tourists and others using the span, creating a backlash against the restrictions.

I'm guessing nothing will change in Florida.

Comments

[Dave]

"keeping tabs on them with electronic monitoring."

While I agree with the assessment concerning residency restrictions, I can't see how electronic monitoring is anything more than a lateral move. Given the cost to implement the program and the number of false positives the equipment sends out, electronic monitoring seems at best a more expensive inefficiency.

[Book38]

Dave, Wake up! monitoring DOES NOT prevent crime. It only tells you where a person goes. It "may" help if a crime was committed and you needed the place the perp at the crime scene, but monitoring does nothing but make a stock holder rich.

[Dave]

This is months old, but were did I say it would prevent crime? I said GPS monitoring was more costly and just as inefficient as residency restrictions. A lateral move is merely a side-step. "More expensive inefficiency" does not translate into support for the system.