Before kids go out trick or treating on Halloween, fall is a good time to take an inventory of who is living in your neighborhood. Pins on the map represent addresses of offenders convicted of sex crimes. Roll your cursor over the pins, and you will see more information pop up, including the registered sex offender's name, address and offense. Registered sex offenders are prohibited from passing out candy on Halloween. They may not appear in a Halloween costume or other child-centered holiday character, such as Santa and the Easter Bunny, in public.
You may want to avoid trick or treating at these houses and apartments on Halloween, or merely be aware of who's living in your neighborhood during the rest of the year. Law enforcement officials and researchers caution that the registries can play only a limited role in preventing child sexual abuse and stress that most perpetrators are known to the child.
The U. Department of Justice, which oversees the National Sex Offender Public Website , estimates that only about 10 percent of perpetrators of child sexual abuse are strangers to the child. The Justice Department estimates 60 percent of perpetrators are known to the child but are not family members but rather family friends, babysitters, child care providers and others, and 30 percent of child victims are abused by family members. Nearly a quarter of the abusers are under the age of 18, the department estimates.
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