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Monday, September 13, 2010
Ind. Law - "Rules keep sex offenders guessing"
Another good story today from Sophia Voravong of the Lafayette Journal Courier. Here are a few quotes from the beginning of the lengthy story:
Lafayette resident Allana Diaz is comforted knowing that no child predators are living nearby when she takes her boys, ages 4 and 7, to play at city-run Murdock Park.Since July 1, 2006, in Indiana, sex offenders against children have been banned from residing within 1,000 feet of public parks, schools and youth program centers.
"You worry that someone is going to snatch them when you look away for five, 10 seconds. So, yes, I think it's a great law," said Diaz, who was at Murdock with her sons Thursday afternoon.
Protecting children from harm was at the forefront for Hoosier lawmakers when they passed the residency restrictions. That also was the motivation behind Indiana's Sex and Violent Offender Registry, a public database that since 2003 tracks those criminals' home and work addresses and posts them online.
However, the effectiveness of such legal tools is debatable, and shifting interpretations of the laws keep offenders and officials on their toes.
One reason is that some of the statutory language is vague, leaving each county to determine how they'll be enforced.
And both the sex offender registry and the residency restrictions have been challenged on grounds that they violate ex post facto provisions of Indiana's constitution and the U.S. Constitution by imposing punishment retroactively.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 13, 2010 09:52 AM
Posted to Indiana Law