“No experts support residency restrictions for sex offenders” is the conclusion of law professor and researcher Eric Janus in an article in Minnesota Lawyer.
“I don’t think you can find any experts — or a person who actually deals with sex offenders — who thinks residency restrictions are effective,” said Janus. “It’s amazing and quite uniform. That goes from Departments of Corrections to county attorneys and prosecutors to state task forces. Everybody says it’s a bad idea. It inhibits re-entry. It inhibits stability. It inhibits supervision. And most likely it increases recidivism.”
Has anyone found an expert or study that concluded residency restrictions have been effective? Anywhere?
While our advocacy community has provided politicians and the media with many reputable studies containing the same conclusions Mr. Janus provided in the article, they are largely ignored because of the public sentiment and political pressure created by these perpetuated myths.
But is doing something ineffective and even counter-productive better than doing nothing at all? If we can convince the legislature that investing in education and prevention is not “doing nothing”, we’ll create something positive on several fronts.
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