Sex offender moves into neighbourhood

Dear Amy: I have a neighbour who was convicted of a sexual offence involving a “child.” He served time in jail.

I don't know the circumstances, but I understand that the term “child” may include a person as young as an infant and as old as a teenager.

The sexual offender is married with two young children.

I know he and his wife want to keep his history private.

However, the other neighbours where I live are not aware of the situation and their kids interact with the sexual offender's family.

Do I need to inform the neighbours about his status as a sex offender? Uncertain

Dear Uncertain: You don't say how you know about this offence, but you should take it as a given that these neighbours don't want others to know that he is a convicted sexual offender. But this is not up to them.

In the United States, convicted sex offenders are assigned a status of Level 1, 2, or 3. Level 1 is considered “low risk of reoffence” and level three “high risk of reoffence.” Each state maintains a sex offender registry.

You can check the registry within your zip code to see if your neighbour is registered and what the classification is.

The reason the registry exists is because people should know if sex offenders live in the community because of the need to protect children from predators.

Wearing this virtual scarlet letter is the ongoing consequence of committing a sex crime against a child.

Your neighbours should reveal the offender's conviction and if he is classified as low-risk, they should reveal that and explain the circumstances — for instance, if he was 19 and had a sexual relationship with a person under the age of consent in his state. A convicted person can go to jail with a Level 1 offence, but the penalty also seems to depend on the state where the offence occurred.

In short, I am suggesting that the convicted offender and his wife do the ethical thing by notifying others of his criminal status.

They most likely won't do that, and so yes, you should let parents in your circle know.

People notified should make every effort to independently verify the information through a neutral source, such as the sex offender registry.