Ban sex offenders from GeorgiaBy William John HaganHouston Home Journal

Despite the recent spree of abductions and murders by registered sex offenders, this should in no way be considered a new problem. According to a U.S. Department of Justice report in 1994, within three years of release, 2.5 percent of rapists were arrested for another rape, and sex offenders were about four times more likely than non-sex offenders to be arrested for another sex crime after their discharge from prison.

Many states have the common sense to warn neighbors when a sex offender moves into a neighborhood. For some reason, our state legislators have made no move to institute a policy of neighborhood notification. If you live in Georgia, you have to hit the Web and find the information on your own. The names and addresses of all Georgia sex offenders can be found on the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Web site. But even those with a good knowledge of the Internet can be misinformed by Georgia’s online sex registry.

Ban sex offenders from Georgia

May 4, 2005

By William John Hagan

Houston Home Journal (Warner-Robins, Perry Georgia)

http://news.mywebpal.com/index.cfm?pnpid=963

The state of Georgia has failed to inform local residents that these folks are living in our community. I won’t scare you further by writing about the number of sex offenders in Houston County. Chalk one up for our state legislators for protecting our children. I guess laws about public smoking are just taking up too much of the legislators’ time.

So how are we going to protect the children of Houston County from the percentage of these sex offenders that will statistically become repeat offenders? Neighborhood notification programs are a good idea, but in reality they don’t always work.

One brave man may just have a solution, if the ACLU doesn’t crush him first. Mayor David Dermer of Miami Beach is proposing new buffer zones that would prevent sex offenders from living within 2,500 feet of any school, school bus stop, day care center, park or playground. In tiny Miami Beach, that would mean sex offenders could only live in two small sections of the city. The ACLU will sue Mayor Dermer; however, a similar law has been upheld by the courts in Arkansas. Our political leaders should follow the example of Mayor Dermer and show some backbone. The time has come for Georgia to institute both neighborhood notification programs and massive buffer zones. Even these actions will not completely ensure the protection of our community from these sexual predators.

Don’t get me wrong: I believe that most former criminals can – with the help of the church, family, and community – become productive members of the community. However, only a fool would feel this way about a rapist, most psychologists would agree that these people cannot be cured. Thanks to bleeding-heart liberals, we will never see life sentences for sex offenders.

However, there is a solution. Expand on the concept of buffer zones and pass a law that prohibits sex offenders in Georgia from coming within 100 feet of any child, anywhere. This would make it virtually impossible for sex offenders to live in our great state. It would also send a message to the rest of the nation that Georgia will not stand for the abuse of children. Today Georgia’s policies regarding sex offenders are a national embarrassment. In the future we have the ability to lead the nation in the protection of children.

William John Hagan is a freelance writer who lives in Elko. Contact him at William_Hagan@excite.com.

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