Exile at Home: The Unintended Collateral Consequences of Sex Offender Residency Restrictions
Richard Tewksbury – Professor of Justice Administration, University of Louisville
The past several years have seen a number of increasingly severe restrictions imposed on criminal offenders, including initiatives and efforts to increase supervision of offenders and inhibit their opportunities to victimize others. The primary focus of these efforts has been on sex offenders, especially those who victimize children. A Georgia statute, HB 1059, is among the most extreme of these restrictions. Enacted in 2006, the new law makes it a felony punishable by ten to thirty years in prison for a registered sex offender to reside, be employed, or loiter within 1000 feet of a school; child care facility; church; public or private park, recreation facility or playground; skating rink; neighborhood center; gymnasium; community swimming pool; or school bus stop.
Legislation like this makes it increasingly important to identify and assess the effects that such laws have on offenders, potential victims, and communities. This Article provides an overview of the impact residential restriction laws have on offenders and communities. It also provides readers with an understanding of how and why unintended consequences of legislation may be seriously detrimental both to public safety and to successful re-entry and reintegration of offenders into communities. This Article discusses the unintended collateral consequences of sex offender registration, with special attention to the issue of housing difficulties faced by registered sex offenders (“RSOs”). This discussion then turns to the issue of where RSOs tend to reside, with a focus on social science evidence showing a concentration of sex offenders in socially disorganized and economically disadvantaged communities. Next, the effects of residential restriction laws are examined, and the ability of such laws to prevent sexual offenses is discussed. Finally, the data from this emerging body of literature is applied to HB 1059, with a prediction of what may result from this statute.
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