Offender Residency Restrictions

Residency Restrictions has been a problem for years. No innocent human being feels comfortable living next to an ex con. Restrictions on where offenders can live causes problems for the offender and society.  Today, laws and restrictions are extremely demanding making it hard to return to society after spending time in jail or prison. Restrictions are harsh, because the public demands they be segregated from these formor criminals. Unfortunately the public is not educated properly on the crimes and cases. The citizens of America refuse to look at ex cons on a case by case basis, but believe they are all bad and should not have the right to live near innocent citizens.

All offenders do not have to abide by the same restrictions. Residency restrictions are mainly directed toward sexual offenders. Offenders convicted of sex crimes are under harsh restrictions and if these residency restrictions are violated punishment is severe. There are currently at least thirty states that have adopted some sort of residence restrictions, but Kansas is not one of these states. Kansas does not believe that residence restrictions are effective against recidivism. Instead of pouring money into restrictions on residence they would rather put money towards other programs to protect all Kansans and not just those near schools and parks. Florida was the first state to enact a residence restriction law and their law is pretty harsh.

Florida Residence Restrictions

• Sexual offenders shall not live within a 1000 feet of a school, playground, park, or day care center.
• Counties have gone even harsher extending this zone out to 2500 feet.

Offenders in states that have similar bans find it hard to find residence to live out their lives. Restrictions like these may apply to the most dangerous of offenders, but first time offenders are being forced out into the middle of nowhere. The government enacts these restrictions to protect the public from sexual predators. The public may feel more safe, but studies have shown there is no correlation between the offender and distance from a target. So how effective are residency restrictions? After states enacted this law more than half of offenders would have to move which is difficult in today's society. Offenders are becoming homeless at alarming rates due to residence restrictions. America needs to re-evaluate residency restrictions and find something that really works.