Offenders in the Community

The reality is that, in spite of society's effort to focus on punishment for sex offenders, most of those who commit sexual crimes will either be:

• supervised in the community on probation status; or
• returned to the community on parole, following prison.

Why are Sex Offenders in the Community?

What do you think of when you hear "sex offender"?

Maybe you think of a dirty old man lurking in the bushes, waiting to grab a child...or the prevert hanging around the corner in a long coat, waiting for a woman or child to walk by so he can expose himself...or the criminal waiting in an alley to assault a woman as she's walking home from work.

The above individuals would certainly qualify as a "sex offender".

But what about the upstanding and beloved teacher, who is just so good with his students? Or the well-respected member of the community, who volunteers for his church youth group? Or the father, uncle, brother, or son?

All of these individuals could be sex offenders as well.

The Truth is...

• It might be surprising to realize that only 1 to 5% of sexual crimes are committed by a stranger.
• Most sex crimes are committed by people who the victim knows and, often, by someone the victim trusts.
• Sex offenders cross all socio-economic, cultural and ethnic boundaries.
• Many different types of behaviors will legally qualify as a "sex crime".

What Should We Do?

It is often said that we should just "lock them up for life."

The question becomes, who do we lock up for life? With so many different types of sex crimes, it would be impossible and unfeasible to incarcerate all sex offenders for life.

That is why the consequences, length of incarceration, and length of community supervision are different depending on the:

• type of behavior
• criminal history of the offender
• the offender's level of risk to engage in similar behavior in the future

Sex offenders are in our communities for all of these reasons.

While it is understandably scary to find out a sex offender is your neighbor, co-worker or friend, it is important to remember that not all sex offenders are the same. Many sex offenders want to change their behavior and, with the appropriate level of supervision and treatment, can become productive members of society.

What You Can Do

When you discover that someone living near you or someone you know is a sex offender, an event many of us have or will deal with at some point in our life, the most important thing to do is educate yourself.

• Educate yourself about the individual and what crime he/she committed.
• Educate yourself about community supervision and contact the person's parole/probation officer for information specific to his/her conditions of parole/probation, including the person's risk factors and treatment.

Always remember, knowledge is power. The more you know about a sex offender who is near you, the more you know about how to protect yourself and others.

Visit the other pages in this section to learn more about sex offender supervision and treatment, sex offender registration, and victim and community notification.

Check out the Awareness & Risk Reduction section for tips on how to better protect yourself and others.