Sex offenders and Halloween (5:30 wed Katie Major)

1. November 2009 by student.

With tonight being Halloween,  most of Americas children are looking forward to going Trick Or Treating tonight. Getting dressed up in various childish costumes. Excited for what the night might bring, and the candy that they are going to get. The fact that they might be solicited by a sex offender is probably the last thing from their minds. With more and more insistence’s of children being abducted and going missing this should be something that all parents discuss with their children before they head out to collect their treats tonight.

A growing number of convicted sex offenders around the US will spend this weekend with a Halloween version of a scarlet letter hanging on their front porches. Many states including Michigan Indiana, Illinois, and Louisiana – and dozens of cities, towns, and counties across the US that now order registered sex offenders to put out a “NO CANDY HERE” sign. By requiring the offenders to put theses signs up will be a WARNING sign to the kids and parents of possible molesters.

“There’s a lot of fake monsters running around on Halloween, but there are some real ones, too,” says Georgia state Rep. Rob Teilhet, who is running for attorney general. He calls Halloween “a unique time period of vulnerability” for children.” I belive that this statement is 100 % true. Halloween should be a time that kids can be kids and not have to worry about going missing or getting killed by a sex offeneder.

Another way states are trying to prevent such acts is  state parole officers are ordering convicted sex offenders not to answer their doors, decorate their porches, or wear costumes to greet kids on Halloween. There is not reason that these horrible people need to have any interaction with kids, even on Halloween.

“We don’t have evidence of higher incidence of sexual offenses against children on Halloween than other times,” says Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Alexandria, Va. “And because there are offenders who don’t have prior history, it’s important that communities don’t feel a sense of security because sex offenders are required to stay in the house with the porch lights off.”

Still, new laws such as one in St. Johns County, in northeast Florida, touch on frightening news events like the recent death of a Florida girl, Somer Thompson, whose house had 90 registered sex offenders living within a three-mile radius. - this asstonished me. I did a search to see how many sex offeneders lived in a three mile radius of my parents house, where my little brother would be trick or treating and I almost fell out of my chair. 18 sex offenders, and that is just those that are registerd. These numbers are crazy!!!

As it gets darker and the kids start roaming the streets tonight please remember just because sex offenders are suppost to have their lights off and are “suppost” to not answer the door does not mean they wont. Parents watch after your children tonight. We need to put a stop to this sick socail problem.

The Chirtian Science Monitor

FOX4 News.com

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