Sex offender ban may provide only ‘imagined security’

OLYMPIA – Restricting where sex offenders can live may not stop a lot of crime, but the practice is still valuable because it makes Washingtonians feel safer, some members of a state task force believe.

A law that took effect in July bars offenders convicted of certain sex crimes against children from living within 880 feet of schools while under state Department of Corrections supervision.

The ban sunsets after one year.

The measure’s sponsor, state Rep. Jim Clements, R-Selah, said Monday that such sex-offender-free zones will supplement a public notification system that may not always fulfill its obligations.

Others said more public education and prevention efforts are a better solution.

But that message is not likely to reassure frightened constituents, said Clements, a co-chairman of the Legislature’s Sex Offender Management Joint Task Force.

“People don’t necessarily want statistical analysis. They want security for their children – real or imagined,” he said.

The panel discussed so-called community protection zones Monday, including an effort by Issaquah city officials to further restrict where sex offenders may live.

In August, the city declared that two classes of registered sex offenders considered the most likely to reoffend could not live within 1,000 feet of schools and day-care centers.

The Issaquah ban has been challenged in court by the American Civil Liberties Union, which believes the law is unconstitutional and could worsen efforts to track sex offenders by driving them to homelessness, attorney Aaron Caplan said.

Some task force members agreed that sex offender notification practices are inconsistent, but said the state should improve that process rather than expand sex-offender-free zones.

“To me, community protection zones are almost a step back into that ignorance-is-bliss” mentality of the past, said Sen. Debbie Regala, D-Tacoma, the task force’s co-chairwoman.

Lindsay Palmer, a victim advocate for the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center, told the task force that restricting sex offenders’ homes is too easy and could allow community leaders to ignore the problem.

“One solution is not going to create safety,” she said.

Clements asked the state Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs for a county-by-county survey of methods for notifying residents that a registered sex offender has moved to their area.

Association attorney James McMahan said the group has published a lengthy set of guidelines for community notification, and said he believes many jurisdictions follow those steps.

The association also posts information about higher-risk sex offenders on its Web site.

“They say the notification process is working. My attitude is, ‘Prove it,’ ” Clements said.