Sex
Offender Law Makes Children Less Safe Yesterday, The Des
Moines Register praised Ed Fallon for his
2002 vote against a bill that prohibited sex
offenders from living within 2,000 feet of
schools or day care centers. The Register said, “… he
was frequently on the right side of issues…. He
was the only House member to vote against the
2,000-foot residency restriction for certain
sex offenders, a law that virtually banished
them from many communities, making them harder
to track, while driving up costs for law
enforcement.”
Fallon was
right!
Coincidentally, voters
in the Third District received a mailing
yesterday asking them “Why does Ed Fallon think
it’s ok for sex offenders to live near
schools?” As a backdrop, it included a
photo of a prisoner in an orange jumpsuit
looking though a fence at children in a
playground. The mailer was sent by
Boswell supporter Richard (Red) Brannan of
Ankeny and had no return
address.
Fallon said, “This is
an example of
cynical, negative politics. This mailer was
sent out only a week before the election to
make it look as if I support sex
offenders. I call on Congressman
Boswell to reject and renounce this
misinformation and ask his supporters to cease
their efforts to disparage my character and
reputation.”
Fallon says he
voted against the bill because, “I knew that it
would only make matters worse.” He has
been proven
right.
Today, prosecutors,
sheriffs, police and those who work with
victims of sexual abuse agree that the bill was
a mistake. The Iowa County Attorneys
Association opposes the bill and acknowledges,
“The research shows
that there is no correlation between residency
restrictions and reducing sex offenses against
children or improving the safety of
children.”
Scott County prosecutor Bill
Davis put it clearly when he said of the law,
“It’s the wrong path. It doesn’t make anyone
safe….” Common sense tells you why. The law
doesn’t keep sex offenders from visiting
schools, as the mailer depicts; it doesn’t
restrict their movements at
all.
In fact, most agree it has
actually made children less safe. According to the Iowa
Coalition Against Sexual Assault, since the law
went into effect, the number of sex offenders
that the system has lost track of has more than
doubled.
State representative and retired
state trooper, Clel Baulder said, “The
residency restriction was passed on emotion and
emotion has no intelligence.”
“I opposed a bill that is
now generally agreed to be a mistake – by
prosecutors, sheriffs, police, lawmakers who
supported it at the time, and those who work
with the victims of sexual assault,” concluded
Fallon.
###