Better monitoring of homeless sex offenders would be costly

Police, legislators and community leaders say it would cost tens of millions of dollars to monitor homeless sex offenders and better protect communities.

One of the keys to safety is housing for sex offenders after they are released from prison, according to a Department of Corrections report.

Offenders are dumped onto the streets with little money and no job and often are ostracized by the people they know. It is difficult to find a place to live because most apartments, shelters and tent cities ban sex offenders.

"Without stable housing that is both appropriate to offenders' needs and within their financial means, offender stability and community safety are both easily compromised," stated the July 2002 report on housing high-risk offenders.

But little has been done. In most communities, people have refused to offer sex offenders housing.

The "not in my backyard" attitude has fostered the growth in the homeless population, said state Rep. Al O'Brien, D-Mountlake Terrace, chairman of the House Criminal Justice and Corrections Committee. "That forces them into places where you have less services, it forces them into homelessness and the police don't know where the hell they are at."

Some cities, such as Issaquah and Monroe, have enacted ordinances that limit offenders to living in just a small area of their communities, far from residential neighborhoods and schools.

Duncan case

The changes were a reaction in part to the high-profile manhunt this summer for a Washington sex felon. Joseph Duncan is accused of slaying members of an Idaho family, then kidnapping and sexually abusing two of the children, Shasta and Dylan Groene.

While these cities view the ordinances as a way to protect residents, some law-enforcement officials such as Seattle police Detective Bob Shilling say the restrictions create a "public-safety nightmare" by chasing offenders out of one neighborhood and passing the problem on to other communities.

"None of us want sex offenders in our neighborhood, but the fact is that they have come from our neighborhoods," said Shilling, lead detective in the sex-offender detail. "How do we expect them to succeed?

"We don't need to bring out the welcome wagon, but it's in everybody's best interest for this person to be a stable, taxpaying member of society."

While housing for sex offenders isn't a fix that legislators plan to consider during the upcoming session, other ideas will be proposed.

O'Brien, a retired Seattle police sergeant, will submit a bill calling for the use of electronic ankle bracelets to monitor high-risk homeless sex offenders convicted of crimes against children. He estimated the set-up costs could reach $10 million in the first year.

Brief sentences

O'Brien also wants to toughen the penalties for sex offenders who repeatedly fail to register. Under current guidelines, a violator can get up to one year in jail. However, most sex offenders who fail to register serve only 30 to 60 days for their first, second and even third offenses.

Pierce County Detective Sgt. Keith Barnes said homeless sex offenders don't take the registration laws seriously. Many have multiple convictions for failing to report weekly to the sheriff's office as required.

"We've had a revolving door on these guys," said Barnes, who wants stiffer penalties. "It's just a timeout for them. It's not a punishment."

O'Brien will propose a law calling for two months in jail for the first offense of failing to register and at least one year in prison for the second offense. Legislators will likely debate the cost of the proposal, expected to be $12 million a year.

"Cost is not the objective," O'Brien said. "Safety for our families, communities and our kids is the objective."