Sex offenders get the boot

In 2004, 83.9 percent of sexual offenses in Utah occurred in homes, said Kathy Ockey, director of the Fremont Community Correctional Center and a therapist with the Utah Department of Corrections.

Nationally, 90 percent of offenses to children are perpetrated by friends, relatives or acquaintances. The number decreases to 78 percent for offenses to women.

Ockey agrees sex offenders should be accountable for their crimes, but she questions the impact of the Clinton ordinance.

"I think with those people who want to change, it's not going to have a lot of impact," she said. "They're not going to go to those places anyway. Many child molesters seek professions and leisure activities that give them access to children. They teach primary, they teach Sunday school. They're coaches."

As a condition of parole, those who have sexually violated a child are not allowed near places where children may play. It might be better to target those who are not known sex offenders, Ockey said.

Ray said he will not push to make the Clinton ordinance a state law. He is researching legislation that could require some high-risk offenders to have yellow license plates on their cars.

"If there's any offender you want to scarlet letter, I think sex offenders are the ones you want to put the letter on," he said. "I don't want them to have any interaction with my children, my wife. They perpetrated the crime, we didn't. They didn't think about the mark they left on children when they molested them."

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E-mail: nwarburton@desnews.com