Sex-offender 'buffer zones' face challenges

A proposal to prohibit convicted sex offenders from living within 500 feet of schools, parks and other areas where children congregate has support but faces constitutional questions that have shot down similar laws in other states.

Speaking before the Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Interim Committee on Wednesday, Rep. Greg Hughes, R-Draper, said he plans to introduce the bill during the next legislative session that would create "buffer zones" of 500 feet around schools, parks and other areas where people on the Utah Sex Offender Registry would not be allowed to live. Hughes also proposed creating "protected places" where sex offenders cannot even set foot.

"There are places where our kids seem to congregate," Hughes told fellow lawmakers. "We ought to have some safety zone or buffer zone."

Hughes said he is still working on the bill with the Utah Department of Public Safety, which oversees not only the parole and probation of convicted sex offenders, but the Utah Sex Offender Registry.

"Hughes' bill is very much of interest to us," said Scott Carver, executive director for the Utah Department of Corrections. Currently there are 6,908 convicted sex offenders on the registry. Out of those, 3,758 are classified as unsupervised, which means under current Utah law, police cannot prevent them from living wherever they want as long as they register their current address with the registry, Carver said.

There simply aren't enough law enforcement to keep track of every sex offender, Carver said, adding an estimated 10 percent of sex offenders are "out of compliance" meaning they have not updated their vehicle information, or address or other information on the registry. Recently local law enforcement has stepped in to keep an eye on sex offenders in their cities.

Carl Wimmer, a child sex crime detective with West Valley Police, told the committee the bill would be an important tool to use by law enforcement to protect children. "Will this stop sex offenders? No. I don't think anybody believes that," Wimmer said, but added used with other tools, such as the sex offender registry, the bill would make a difference. Wimmer is currently a Republican candidate for House District 52.

However, limiting where sex offenders live has raised constitutional issues in other states.