Sex offender rights a thorny issue

Almost every person sent to prison will one day leave. That’s a line from the Corrections Department’s covering its management of the Child Sex Offender register. It’s just one of many inconvenient truths in the thorny issue of reintegrating offenders into the community.

And it’s often difficult to see the wood for the trees when that subject encompasses those who have committed crimes against children.

Somewhere beyond the trees is where many of us would like to see those offenders whose crimes have been so clearly beyond the pale, against those who are the most vulnerable. That’s certainly the case in Palmerston North, where a community has been notified that a convicted person is moving in.

But Corrections is not allowed to do that, even if it wanted to: Almost every person sent to prison will one day leave. It’s a line that implies a challenge, the burden of which is placed on the department: these people have to be released, but how do we do that while balancing the rights of the public to safety and those of the released offender to some privacy and an opportunity to walk the right path?

Some commentators on both sides might disagree, but the sex offender register appears to have struck an acceptable balance.

Set up in 2016 it is not open to the public, but gives the police and other agencies a tool to monitor those released into the community and better manage the risk. Depending on the level of risk, offenders can remain on the register for life.

Sometimes it is used to communicate that risk in the community and help them with the tools to stay safe while supporting the rehabilitation of an offender. Because, as the challenge implies, these people have to be freed.

It’s perfectly reasonable and understandable that such a release should cause some fear and anxiety, particularly from parents of young children.

But the fear is not supported by facts.

Studies in this country and overseas suggest that recidivism rates of child sex offenders are among the lowest in all crime categories. A Corrections review of 689 offenders released between 2001 and 2003 found that 17 per cent returned to prison over five years. That compares with an overall rate of more than 60 per cent for all crime. And that was before the register gave the authorities another powerful tool to protect the public.

A similar study in the United States, involving 4300 people, put the recidivism rate at a little over 5 per cent (one qualification for both was a suspected higher under-reporting rate).

Also, a number of studies have suggested children are at greater risk from their own family members and others in their circle. In the US they made up 76 per cent of offenders against children. Strangers accounted for less than a quarter of attacks.

None of this will completely remove the anxiety of parents of a community into which an offender is released. That is understandable. But as Corrections is demonstrating through its better communication with those affected communities, knowledge is power. It provides people with more and better tools to tackle those thorny issues.

The fear is not supported by facts.