Laws limiting where sex-offenders can live have been used in many towns and states aimed at protecting vulnerable populations, especially children. But a growing chorus of critics from police to civil rights attorneys argues these laws are unconstitutional and even counterproductive. We'll look at the options that communities have in dealing with this sensitive issue.
Guests:
- David Finkelhor: Director of the Crimes against Children Research Center and a sociology professor at the University of New Hampshire.
- Jill Rockey: Executive Director at Crisis Center of Central New Hampshire and former Detective Sergeant with the State Police.
- Chris Dornin: Founder and Chairman of Public Relations for Citizens for Criminal Justice Reform – New Hampshire.
- Katherine Prudhomme – O’Brien: a first-term Republican Representative from Derry, New Hampshire.
Read more
- AP - N.H. lawmakers debate lifting sex offender residency restrictions: "New Hampshire's legislature is once again debating measures that would ban municipalities from restricting where sex offenders can live, even as some other states are making such restrictions tougher."
- Pacific Standard Magazine - It's Time to Rethink Our Approach to Sex Offenders: "Restrictions on where offenders can live and loiter are a popular legal strategy to keep children out of reach of sexual predators, but in reality they keep offenders an arm’s length away from affordable housing and employment—as writer Alastair Gee reports in our current issue—and have been known to force them into living in what essentially become off-the-grid, shanty-towns of sex offenders."
- Pacific Standard Magazine - New approaches to preventing sex offender recidivism: "COSA is built on the idea that we can best protect ourselves against sex offenders by integrating them into society. In the end, this notion may be as much a sticking point as it is a solution."
