No simple solution

Few public officials have acknowledged their responsibility to protect the well-being and fundamental rights of all residents—including those who have been convicted of crimes, according to hrw.org a human rights watch group.

This statement has become increasingly true in more recent years, not only across America but in specific states like Georgia.

Prior to 1994, few states required convicted sex offenders to register their addresses with local law enforcement. However, after the passage of the Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Act, today, all fifty states and Washington, D.C. have sex offender registries. The purpose of these registries being a way to keep “sexual predators” from living at least 1,000 feet away from schools, daycare centers, parks etc. They also allowed the general public the right to know when a sex offender was living or working in their area so that they could better protect themselves and their families.

However, these rights that are given to the general public seem to punish the sex offender even after they have served their punishment for the crime committed. In a sense, they are being persecuted every time they set foot outside their home. Is it fair to strip away their rights just because they have been convicted of a crime?

There are over 636,910 sex offenders in the United States. More specifically there are close to 15,000 in Georgia alone. This means that there are at least that many United States citizens who are being stripped of their right to be protected by the law even after serving the sentence for their convictions.

“People want a silver bullet that will protect their children, but there is no silver bullet. There is no simple cure to the very complex problem of sexual violence,” says Patty Wetterling, child safety advocate whose son was abducted in 1989 and remains missing.

Wetterling is completely correct. Making a person live in fear of having to live in a car or in a trailer out in the woods somewhere just so they can adhere to a law is not fair to them, even if it satisfies other people’s desires.

In the city of Demorest, there are at least 40 registered sex offenders as specified by familywatchdog.us. This means that while 40 people have complied with Georgia state law, it is more than likely that many others have tried to hide the fact that they were convicted of sexual crimes in order to live a freer life and escape double jeopardy.

Georgia has tried to change this sweltering melting pot of protection of all residents in its state by overturning the Georgia law prohibiting sex offenders from living 1,000 feet from anywhere that children may be for more than eight consecutive hours, including schools and parks, by ruling it unconstitutional in 2007.

The Georgia Supreme Court ruling said even sex offenders who comply with the law "face the possibility of being repeatedly uprooted and forced to abandon homes."

Until someone can come up with a better solution as to how to keep convicted sex offenders away from places where children would be on a dailey basis without violating the offenders’ fundamental rights, we are confined to being notified when an offender moves into the neighborhood or area. It is then up to the individual residents of that area what the next action will be.