By Ed Vitagliano and Rebecca Grace

September 2006 – When Amie Zyla was eight years old, Joshua Wade, a 14-year-old boy, sexually abused her. He was arrested and sent to a juvenile home. However, when Wade was 18, he was released and, since neighboring families were unaware of his conviction, they could not take precautions. Wade allegedly victimized more children.

That’s a scenario that federal and state officials are trying to prevent by making it harder for convicted sex offenders to blend in after they are released from prison. At the same time, legislators are trying to give tools to parents that will enable them to know about sex offenders who may be living in their neighborhoods.

Last year the U. S. Department of Justice opened a national registry of sex offenders (www.nsopr.gov) as a means of tracking thousands of offenders nationwide via computer. The registry, which will help keep track of the more than 500,000 sex offenders that live in the U.S., relies on the data posted by individual states.

“The National Sex Offender Public Registry will provide one-stop access to registries from all 50 states and the District of Columbia by the end of the year,” said U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. “With this technology, every citizen will be able to search the latest information for the identity and location of known sex offenders. Sharing information with concerned citizens and parents is an integral part of our strategy to protect communities from these predators who wish to harm the most vulnerable among us.”

The site provides visitors with photographs of registered sex offenders, as well as the neighborhoods in which the offenders reside and their proximity to schools.

This information is extremely important since sex offenders do not have a typical profile, Scott Matson, research associate for the Center for Sex Offender Management, explained to U. S. News & World Report.

“They come in all shapes and sizes – they can be a wealthy neighbor; they can be a professional; they can be unemployed and homeless,” Matson said. 

These online registries are one way for adults to safeguard the neighborhood while aiding parents in preventative measures to insure their children’s safety. If a person learns that an offender has moved into the neighborhood, Kathryn Brohl, author of When Your Child Has Been Molested, suggested that parents should “be watchful but not intrusive.” They should supply their children with important information such as a picture of the offender and discuss types of touching that may be inappropriate. Older children should be taught to recognize a pattern of seduction and progression, Brohl said.

Some Web sites – such as Family Watchdog and Map Sex Offenders – provide parents and others with easy-to-search registries that map out the community. The homes where convicted sex offenders live, as well as photos, information about the offender’s criminal history and other relevant information are displayed.

With legislation recently signed into law by President Bush, Congress closed some of the kinds of loopholes that allowed juvenile offenders to commit additional sex crimes. In most states, the law requires that juvenile criminal records be sealed once the perpetrator turns 18. In the past that has meant that criminals like Wade could not be listed on the state’s sex crime registry, which put watchful parents at a disadvantage. The new congressional legislation requires that sex crimes be posted, even if committed when someone was a juvenile.

Zyla actually campaigned for Congress to close the loophole. “If they’re a juvenile and they’ve done it, people should know about it,” she told USA Today. “Josh got out, and he did it all over again.”

Of course, state registries are not always up-to-date. Parents should  become informed so they can protect their children. And parents should make sure their children become savvy about the dangers that might exist in their communities – and even in their own neighborhoods.  

Online resources for parents 
National Sex Offender Public Registry (DOJ) – www.nsopr.gov
Parents for Megan’s Law – www.parentsformeganslaw.org
Stop It Now! – www.stopitnow.com 
Family Watchdog – www.familywatchdog.us
Map Sex Offenders – www.mapsexoffenders.com