Can A Registered Sex Offender Work Within 500 Ft Of A Park

Within 500 Anxiety: Do You Know Where Your Sex Offenders Are?

Kenneth A. Clontz and J. Gayle Mericle

Abstract

One promising attribute of GIS mapping is its potential for addressing public safety concerns. GIS provides a quick method for establishing whether or not an offender residence is located in accordance with his or her country's laws. In an exploratory study, the registered addresses of convicted child sexual offenders are plotted and checked for violations of Illinois' prohibition confronting such perpetrators living within a 500 human foot radius of schools and other designated areas. Any subjects within the forbidden perimeters will be highlighted, and the implications of such findings discussed.

Amid continuing clamor and pressure from the public to protect communities' children from criminal predation, constabulary enforcement agencies are looking for effective tools to employ in tracking, locating, and ultimately preventing offenders from repeating such crimes. Federal legislation, lobbied for past citizen child advocacy groups, has resulted in three laws enacted with the intent of aiding both police and the residents of their jurisdictions in this effort. The near highly publicized and controversial of these laws is Megan's Constabulary (1996), which mandates states to develop protocols assuasive public access to data nigh previously convicted sex offenders living in their customs. Currently in consequence, this law will confront challenges to its constitutionality before the Supreme Courtroom later this twelvemonth. Of greater applied utility to law enforcement is the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Vehement Offender Registration Deed, which imposes 4 obligations on each of the 50 states. This 1994 law requires that (1) states register all certified (bedevilled) perpetrators of crimes confronting minors, as well as those adjudicated sexually violent offenders. (2) Each country is charged with maintaining an accurate registry of such criminals. (3) Distribution of information contained in the registry is to be fabricated by the state to law enforcement agencies. (iv) The land volition disclose to a jurisdiction'due south residents registry data about these categories of offenders when necessary for public safety. The terminal police germane to this issue is the Lynch Human activity, which requires the FBI to handle sex offender registration in states lacking what it termed "minimally sufficient" programs (Chaiken, 1998)

Of these laws, the registries created to meet the objectives set by the Jacob Wetterling Human action, when combined with the use of a GIS mapping program, potentially offers law enforcement officials a cost effective first line of defense that so far many accept overlooked. An obvious and realistic business concern of police is the consequence of compliance to their individual country's registration parameters. Though granted some latitude within the federal guidelines established by the Wetterling Human action, a majority of the states set proximity limitations for these offenders, restricting them from living or loitering within a predetermined distance from schools, parks, daycare facilities, etc. The laudable intent of this aspect of the constabulary is to keep the offender from gaining like shooting fish in a barrel access to possible victims. Simply the question arises: do a majority of constabulary departments routinely check to encounter if offenders' addresses violate the boundaries put in place by their country? The answer to date is no.

The investigation and enforcement of proximity restrictions on child sexual offenders and predators would be impossible for nearly jurisdictions to try by the time honored door-to-door footwork method. The required man hours for checking each registered dwelling or apartment would be prohibitive, calculation an unacceptable brunt to agencies already charged with accomplishing more than and more in the face up of dwindling resources. Even so the demand to enforce compliance is as well pressing. Discovering as well tardily that a registered child sexual offender had been living next door to a daycare center, and selected his or her victim from among the children cared for there would be a disaster for the victim, the community, and the police.

Checking offender compliance with residency restrictions without unduly encumbering law enforcement agencies and personnel became the focus for this study. Using the GIS Arcview mapping program in conjunction with a state'southward official register of child sex activity offender addresses, plots were made to define whether or not each offender's domicile space fell inside or outside the state's designated "off limits" areas. Illinois was selected every bit the sample country for this study.

Methodology

To practically examination the feasibility of this program application, a working noesis of Illinois' legal directives regarding kid sexual offenders' residency restrictions is required. This effect was addressed in amendments to Criminal Lawmaking 720 Illinois Criminal Statutes (ILCS) v/11-9.three and five/eleven-9.4, respectively. The criminal code specifically prohibits child sex offenders from residing within 500 feet of a schoolhouse attended by persons under 18 years of age, a playground, or a facility providing programs or services exclusively directed toward persons under 18 years of age. (An exemption is allowed for those offenders owning the holding where they reside prior to the effective engagement the amendatory human activity took place, which is July i, 1999.) Child sex offenders are too restricted by police force from knowingly being nowadays in or loitering on a public way within 500 anxiety of any school building, school ground, on a schoolhouse conveyance used to transport students to or from school-related activities when persons nether eighteen years of age are present. Information technology is also unlawful for such offenders to knowingly loiter on a public way within 500 anxiety of a public park building, or on real property comprising any public park. Farther, child sex offenders are prohibited from approaching, contacting, or communicating with a child within public park zones. A "public park" includes a park, forest preserve, or any conservation area nether the jurisdiction of the land or a unit of local government (Illinois Guide to Sex Offender Registration, 2001).

Based on Illinois' legal guidelines, three target zones were chosen for this piece of work. Schools, parks, and recreational areas were plotted, with the corresponding 500 foot "off limits" boundaries outlined. These boundaries define the space specified in the law mandating the exclusion of child sexual offender residences.

Next, the Illinois Country Police Sex activity Offender Registry (June, 2002) for all 102 counties in the land was obtained. At that place were a total of 12,730 offenders contained in the data base. Please note here that as of June 24, 1997 Illinois increased the scope of its mandatory registration to include all certified (convicted) sexual practice offenders. From this list, merely those who were convicted of offenses against children (offenses having victims under the age of eighteen) were selected for inclusion in this study. The number of cases meeting the option criteria totaled x,946. Sexual activity offenses that qualify the offender for registration nether the 720 Illinois Compiled Statutes 5/

11-half-dozen: indecent solicitation of a child
11-9.one: sexual exploitation of a kid
11-15.ane: soliciting for a juvenile prostitute
11-17.one: keeping a place of juvenile prostitution
xi-18.ane: patronizing a juvenile prostitute
xi-19.1: juvenile pimping
11-nineteen.1: exploitation of a child
11-twenty.one: kid pornography
12-13: criminal sexual attack
12-14: aggravated criminal sexual assail
12-14.1: predatory criminal sexual assault of a child
12-15: criminal sexual abuse
12-16: aggravated criminal sexual abuse
12-33: ritualized abuse of a kid

Additionally, if whatever of the following offenses are committed against victims under xviii years of age, and the defendant is non the parent of the victim, and the law-breaking was committed on or after January one of 1996:

x-1: kidnapping
ten-2: aggravated kidnapping
ten-3: unlawful restraint
10-iv: aggravated unlawful restraint

Conviction for any of the above listed offenses or their attempt mandates offenders annals. Nether 720 ILCS 5/12-14.1 , such commissions or attempts crave offender registration:

fourteen.1: Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault of a Child

A-ane: The victim was under the historic period of 13 and the offender was 17 years of age or over and committed an act of sexual penetration, or

A-2: When the victim was nether 13 and the offender was 17 years of age or older and committed an human action of sexual penetration and caused great bodily harm to the victim that resulted in permanent disability or was life threatening

Also included in the sample is described in 725 ILCS 205/10-five (1.ix) - Violations under the Criminal Code of 1961 10-7: Aiding and Abetting under Kid Abduction Section 10-5 (b)(10), and Child Luring, 10-5 (b)(10). Registration again in mandatory for both those committing or attempting the crimes.

The concluding offenses found within the selected cases come under 730 ILCS 150/2 (ane.ten) are violations or attempted violations of the post-obit crimes of the Criminal Code 0f 1961:

ten-4: forcible detention, if the victim is under 18 years of age
11-six.5: indecent solicitation of an developed
11-15: soliciting for a prostitute, if the victim is under 18 years of age
xi-sixteen: pandering, if the victim is under 18 years of age
11-18: patronizing a prostitute, if the victim is under 18 years of age
xi-19: pimping, if the victim is under 18 years of age

Every bit previously stated, the original sample for plotting those with victims nether 18 may have independent 10,946 offenders, just equally the data was organized into specific computer fields for mapping, several issues were discovered. A majority of the counties had a number of individuals listed every bit kid sex offenders that showed "UNK" every bit an address. Since child sexual offenders are required to register within x days of establishing residency with the police force or sheriff's agency within the jurisdiction where they reside, these cases signal a legal violation. While interesting to note, such cases obviously had to be dropped from the sample. Statewide, 576 cases fell into this category. Another problematic registration found in every county was the apply of Post Office Box (POB) numbers. These designations practise non provide the state required accost for registration purposes, defeating the reason for creating the data base of operations. Once again, cases showing PO Box numbers could not be mapped. Rural Route addresses, while permissible for establishing an individual's place of residence, do non supply specific enough information to determine whether or non the offender's home violates the 500 foot boundary parameters (11 and 7, respectively).

Other cases excluded from the sample are those where the person inputting the information made an mistake and excluded the street accost, the town, city, or Zip Code (91). Also, some of the offenders were listed every bit residing at diverse county jails either in or exterior the urban center where the individuals were indicated equally living (24). Again, these cases were excluded, equally were cases where a person'south only displayed accost was "HOMELESS" (4), "AWOL" (3), "TEMPORARY HOUSING" (ane), and "SALVATION ARMY" (1). One time these problem cases were culled from the sampling pool, a total of 10,228 cases met the criteria for research purposes prior to geocoding the information.

Afterwards the initial mapping run, 46 more than cases could non be matched by geocoding. There are several possible factors that tin can account for these missing cases. Even though legally required to bring some form of documentation to verify their place of domicile, offenders could yet find ways to supply a false or fictitious address. Fifty-fifty more than likely, whoever entered the information fabricated a mistake when typing in the location. Another possibility that was noticed by the researchers was the wide variation in abbreviations that were present in the information, making it more difficult for the computer to match the actual location with the reported addresses. These cases also were removed from the sample, leaving 10,182 offender locations for testing purposes.

Results from overlaying the official offender registration information with the Arcview mapping programme displayed 361 people living within 500 feet of one of the target zones chosen for study. These 361 offenders lived in violation of the boundaries of xiii dissimilar schools. No violations were mapped in conjunction with parks or recreational areas. Figure 1 displays the v counties in which the violations appear: Melt, LaSalle, Jasper, Marion, and Jefferson.

Sex Offender Violations in Illinois (June 2002)

Benefits of Mapping Child Sex Offender Addresses

Once the 361 violations are divided among the counties, then jurisdictions where they appear, the follow-upward to check the circumstances surrounding the manifestly unlawful addresses is a much more manageable task for individual law enforcement agencies. Some of these cases will autumn under the only exemption extended to offenders: in Illinois, child sex offenders who owned the property where they reside earlier July one, 1999, are permitted to live in that residence. The matter of ownership, and engagement it was established tin can easily be checked. Other cases volition bear witness to exist in direct violation of the law.

Some other advantage of mapping the offenders addresses past each jurisdiction is allowing each section to review the accurateness of their information and its entry. A glaring problem discovered by this study was only how incorrect and incomplete the data independent in the sex offender registry is. Checking over their registry information volition aid departments in meeting one of the mandates of the Wetterling human action, which requires jurisdictions to keep an accurate registry. If perusal of the registry information shows incomplete or even incommunicable addresses, the affair tin exist rectified. This step too refocuses agencies on dealing with offenders who effort to offer only a postal service office box number rather than an actual place of residence. Additionally, the procedure of reviewing the data for mapping can provide data to be passed on to patrol officers about offenders with "UNK" instead of addresses, and follow-upwardly encouraged.

And finally this procedure allows each police force department to demonstrate to their customs that they are committed proactively, tangibly, to regulating sex offenders who have been released into their communities. While creating and enforcing the and so-chosen "no pervert" zones around schools, daycares, and other youth- oriented facilities may, in office, be more than public relations than public rubber, it still offers law enforcement a valuable tool when sex offenses do occur. Yes, it is important to know where a community'due south sexual activity offenders alive. As a grouping, sex offenders are known to be very likely to recidivate (Klaaskids Foundation, 2002; Matson and Lieb, 1996). The knowledge of the proximity of known sex offenders to sex activity crime locations can be vital for investigations of this nature. Mapping out the sex offender registry, removing violators, checking the accuracy of data in the registry are all valuable and toll effective tools any police department can utilize to aid safeguard its community's children.

References

Chaiken, January M. (April 1998). National Briefing on Sex Offender Registries: Proceedings of a BJS/SEARCH Briefing [on-line]. http://world wide web.obp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/ncsor.pdf [NCJ-168965].

Esri (1996). ArcView GIS (Version 3.ane) Redland, CA: Ecology Systems Research Establish, Inc.

Illinois State Police (June 2002). Illinois Sexual practice Offender Information [on-line]. http://world wide web.samnet.isp.country.il.united states of america

Illinois State Constabulary (September 2001). A Guide to Sexual activity Offender Registration in Illinois [on-line]. http://www.isp.state.il.us/docs/sorguide.pdf

KlaasKids Foundation (June 2002). Megan's Law by Country [on-line]. http://www.klaaskids.org/pg-legman.htm

Matson, Scott and Lieb, Roxanne (July 1996). Sex Offender Registration: A Review of State Laws [on-line]. http://world wide web.wsippa.wa.gov/reports/regsrtn.html

Kenneth A. Clontz, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Western Illinois Academy
Department of Police force Enforcement and Justice Administration
Stipes Hall 403
ane Academy Circle
Macomb, IL 61455-1390
Office Phone: 309-298-2251
Fax: 309-298-2271
E-Mail: KA-Clontz@wiu.edu

J. Gayle Mericle, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Western Illinois Academy
Department of Law Enforcement and Justice Assistants
Stipes Hall 403
1 University Circumvolve
Macomb, IL 61455-1390
Office Phone: 309-298-1928
Fax: 309-298-2271
Email: JG-Mericle@wiu.edu