PBC’s easing of sex offenders’ residency limits part of national trend

Source: Palm Beach Post

By Jennifer Sorentrue – Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

 

Following the high profile murder of a 9-year-old Florida girl, Palm Beach County commissioners in 2006 joined a chorus of local governments across the country and tightened restrictions on where sex offenders can live.

Eight years later, the commission has taken the first step to repeal those limits and instead depend on a less restrictive state law.

At the recommendation of County Attorney Denise Nieman, the commission voted unanimously Tuesday to eliminate a requirement that bars sex offenders from residing within 2,500 feet of places where children gather. A final vote is set for July 22.

The county’s rule is more restrictive than state law, which prevents sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of schools, day-cares and other play areas. The county’s rule applies only to unincorporated areas, but many of the county’s cities and towns have their own residency restrictions for sex offenders.

Nieman said she made the recommendation after a convicted sex offender filed suit against the county in federal court, alleging that he was left homeless because of the residency restrictions.

“When the lawsuit was filed against us, it really raised a number of issues,” Nieman said. “To put the county in the best position, it makes sense to have the ordinance conform to what the state laws requires.”

In a handwritten complaint, filed in January, William Mattern, 63, said he was seeking more than $100,000 in damages because the county and many of its cities and towns have residency restrictions that supersede state law.

Mattern was required to register as a sex offender after he was convicted in 1977 of forcing a West Palm Beach woman to have sex with him by threatening her with a rattlesnake.

Since the conviction, Mattern has been arrested more than two dozen times, state records show. At least five of those arrests were because he failed to register as a sex offender or report changes with his registration.

Nieman’s recommendation also comes after other convicted sex offenders have successfully challenged similar residency restrictions across the country.

In 2011, Pennsylvania’s high court invalidated a county ordinance that barred sex offenders from living in certain areas.

“Where convicts could live was a subject which the state legislature had preempted,” said Pennsylvania attorney E.J. Strassburger, who with the American Civil Liberties Union, represented six sex offenders who challenged the rule in federal court.

State and federal courts in New York have also struck down similar residency requirements, forcing cities and towns to consider repealing local rules.

Palm Beach County commissioners approved the 2,500-foot residency restriction in 2006, despite objections from criminal justice leaders who feared it would make it difficult for sex offenders to find places to live.

At the time, several of the county’s 38 cities and towns had already approved their own distance requirements. Some cities have enacted a 1,500-foot distance requirement. Others, like the county, implemented a 2,500-foot rule.

The push for the restrictions came after the 2005 rape and murder of Jessica Lunsford, 9, by a convicted sex offender in Citrus County.

“It is a race to see who can get an ordinance faster,” Strassburger said. “The only places these people can live are out in totally rural areas where there is no bus transportation. They don’t have any support services, any counseling services. They forever marginalize these people. It doesn’t work. It makes the problem worse.”

Michael Rodriguez, executive director of the Palm Beach County Criminal Justice Commission, said the patchwork of local residency rules has left only a handful of pockets in the county where sex offenders can legally live.

Rodriguez points to Miami-Dade County, where expanded residency restrictions left about 100 sex offenders in 2009 unable to find legal residences and living under a bridge on Biscayne Bay.

“If you think about it logically, prohibiting where someone sleeps at night doesn’t prohibit them from being somewhere,” Rodriguez said. “That doesn’t mean he can’t be near a school the next day.”

There are 1,016 sex offenders and predators registered in Palm Beach County, according to the sheriff’s office. Of those, 73 are registered as transient.

The Criminal Justice Commission, whose membership includes local business leaders and county, municipal and law enforcement officials, agreed in 2012 to begin pushing for standardized residency rules for sex offenders. The change, they group said, would make it easier for convicted felons to re-enter society.

“Right now these boundaries mix and match,” Rodriguez said. “At least let’s make it uniform.”

The county appears the first local government to start making a change.

Palm Beach County League of Cities Executive Director Richard Radcliffe said municipal leaders are aware of the push, but haven’t taken action.

“We have been aware of it, but it is hard to get everybody to line up,” Radcliffe said. “It is really a tough topic.”

 

Source: Palm Beach Post