False Sense of Security

The problem with sex offender residency restrictions, are that they restrict or prohibit an individual with a previous sexual criminal history of offenses against children from being within a specified distance (usually between 500 feet and 2,000 feet) of a school, park, playground, daycare center, or other areas where children may congregate, in hopes that the child sexual predator will not have an opportunity to select a victim in one of these areas (Bratina, 2013). Although there are cases where children are abducted from one of these public areas and sexually assaulted and sometimes murdered by a stranger, the research shows that approximately 95% of child sexual assaults are committed by a close family member or close family friend and does not need a public area to prey on their victims.

The problem is that there are many restrictions for sex offenders throughout the country that places very restrictive and punitive measures on these individuals in hopes of preventing and deterring sex offenses against children. As to date, most research that has been produced on this topic has shown that these restrictions are not likely to increase public safety (Tewksbury, 2011). Many people believe that these measures if properly enforced, will accomplish that goal. If individuals believe that these restrictions will protect vulnerable children from child sex predators on a large scale of effectiveness, they are sadly mistaken and may be putting their own children at risk.