City officials are crafting an ordinance that would restrict child sex offenders from living near places where young people commonly gather, and making it a crime for anyone in such areas to rent to offenders.
The new measure, which also would restrict some parolees or sex offenders from living together, is designed to protect the public from clusters of sex offenders or parolees, said Andy Kahan with Mayor Bill White's Crime Victims Office.
"Essentially, what you have is an unlicensed, unsanctioned halfway house," he told the council's public safety committee this morning. "From my own personal perspective, it's just not conducive for public safety. You don't have alcoholics living next to a liquor store, and you certainly don't want to have five or six sex offenders living in a neighborhood with children."
The sex crimes section of the ordinance would contain exceptions for minors or people who established a residence before the ordinance was approved. The ordinance would contain similar exceptions in the parolee section.
Violations would be Class C misdemeanors, which are punishable by up to a $500 fine.
Another provision in the ordinance that would set limits on the numbers of sex offenders allowed to live in apartment complexes is still being researched, said Michele Austin, an assistant city attorney who crafted the ordinance.
The proposed apartment regulations drew some objections from a local trade association, which complained that the measure might place too high a burden on employees untrained in law enforcement.
"We would very much like an opportunity to go through and make sure this ordinance would be directed at the people for whom it needs to be directed, and that you're not putting another, additional burden on people who work for apartment communities," said Andy Teas, a governmental relations director for the Houston Apartment Association.
The ordinance is still in draft form and not scheduled for a City Council vote anytime soon. Council members at today's hearing asked numerous questions about how the proposed measure would be enforced. But the intent seemed to draw broad support.
"This is one of those situations that is horrifying," said Councilman M.J. Khan. "For us to not have the children protected from these criminals and sex offenders is a travesty of society."
I am actully all for this, and I think its a good idea. However- I hear bleeding hearts filing appeals at this time due to " making it harder on these poor people"
Nice frosting on the crappy looking cake......some of this pigs shouldnt even be out of prison. I am sorry; I have no mercy.....you hurt a child.....life; hell death. I dont give a rat's ass if that hurts his wittle feewings.......anybody hurts my kid, the safest place for them is prison anyway. He/she gets out......life wont be easy.
I didnt do research on this for my senior research class because I was pregnant and knew it would bug me, but pedophiles keep hurting and hurting and hurting to just to get the thrill over and over . It is never good enough as their first time and it escalates to murder. ie....that Karr guy who claimed to kill Jean Benet ; we have not seen the last of him. He is a glory hound who probable got a hard -on seeing his nasty face on TV....with that beautiful childs pic following or close to it.
-- Edited by Bread Styx at 09:08, 2006-11-14
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