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June 30, 2005
Sex offenders find anonymity in Minnesota state law
This article begins by telling the story of two sex offenders who were prosecuted for a rape they committed together in 1986. One of the men was released prior to the enactment of a law that identifies these predatory offenders to people who live in the same communities. The whereabouts of that offender is currently unknown.
The story continues by stating that there are approximately 15,000 registered sex offenders in Minnesota, and that only 3,000 of them have been assigned a risk level. Law enforcement identifies level three offenders to their neighbors and at http://www.doc.state.mn.us/level3/Search.asp.
A point is made in the article that was also made in our discussion group. Brian Schlueter, Sheriff of Ottertail County, says “Unless you’ve taken an interest, or unfortunately, been affected by one of these people, I think the general public is ill-informed about how many offenders are out there and how many of them aren’t locked up”. Reflecting this point, one of our group members said that, because he isn’t a typical target for these offenders, he hasn’t thought much about this topic. Unfortunately, the consequences for those who are affected by these offenders are devastating. The gist of this article is the anonymity of offenders released prior to 1997. However, there are many predators living in our communities anonymously today, released before or after 1997, so we all need to be aware of who lives next door.
Comments
I think that it is very important to know who lives in your neighborhood. Many of these offenders go after people they know. It usually is not a stranger. People have a right know who is in there neighborhood and should be notified by police that a sex offender is living or moving into their area.
Posted by: Dianna at June 30, 2005 9:06 PM
One of the saddest things I thought about was that most neighborhoods and communities don't even know their neighbors anymore. Unless you have a group or designated persons on your block focusing on this, it seems that no one even knows who belongs on the block or not. I have made a point to regularly talk to most of immediate neighbors, but who else is around me? Life is so busy, and the neighbors change so often it seems, that it's hard to get a handle on who really belongs there.
Having said that however, I agree the law should be reviewed and we should know when former criminals, especially sex offenders, are moved to our neighborhoods, we need to know -- whether you are a potential victim or not.
Posted by: Debbie at July 5, 2005 12:10 PM