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Campaign Updates>
Rky Mtn News Editorial Supports Penry Bill
January 14, 2006
Internal exile for sex offenders?
Proposal is too drastic
January 14, 2006
Over the past six years, Colorado has taken dramatic steps
forward to expand public access to information about
potentially dangerous sexual offenders living in our midst.
More high-risk offenders must now register with the
government. A Colorado Bureau of Investigation Web site
(http://sor.state.co.us/default.asp) makes information on
offenders easier to obtain, serving as a clearinghouse. As
a result, Colorado residents no longer have to visit their
local police station to learn whether violent or repeat
offenders live nearby.
And yet there's an outcry to do more, fueled both by
genuine public-safety concerns and talk-show hysterics.
Gov. Bill Owens and lawmakers in both parties have endorsed
tough yet sensible new laws against predators.
Senate Bill 22, introduced by Sen. Ken Kester, R-Las
Animas, and Rep. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, would
require community notification when violent or repeat
sexual offenders change addresses, and force convicted
offenders from other states to register in Colorado. House
Bill 1026, by Rep. Bill Berens and Sen. Shawn Mitchell,
both Broomfield Republicans, would increase prison terms
for sex crimes involving minors. As now written, both
deserve the legislature's support.
There is, however, the temptation to overreach. Some
Republicans and Democrats seem to think a 21st century
version of "your kind's not welcome around here" is a
legitimate way to protect the public.
Rep. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, is sponsoring a bill
similar to one that died in committee last session that
would ban violent or repeat sex offenders from living or
working within 1,500 feet of any school, playground or
day-care center statewide. Democratic House Speaker Andrew
Romanoff backs the concept.
Cue the peasants with pitchforks. Harvey's bill would deny
offenders who have completed their prison sentences the
opportunity to rebuild their lives. And it could easily
pose a greater harm to innocents by making offenders more
desperate and harder to integrate into decent society.
The bill would close off employment opportunities,
declaring a large portion of every city off-limits to
offenders. It would block many of them from living with
family members who could provide emotional support. And it
would shuttle offenders into rural areas where law
enforcement is sparse, and counseling and other services
are hard to find.
At least 14 other states have imposed buffer zones that
banish sex offenders from places purportedly offering
opportunities for relapse. Yet there's no evidence these
laws have reduced sex crimes, or made truly predatory
offenders less likely to strike again.
While the U.S. Supreme Court has not ruled whether this
form of internal exile is legal, the Constitution does ban
ex post facto laws that increase criminal punishment after
a sentence has been handed out. And both common law and
court precedents embrace the principle that citizens have
wide latitude to travel, work and live where they choose.
We hope the legislature will resist the temptation to
pander, and take a sober, thoughtful approach that protects
the public from predatory behavior while giving
ex-prisoners the chance to again become law-abiding
citizens.
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