A legal battle over the way Kentucky treats convicted sex offenders may not be resolved for months.

While ABC 36 was preparing a two-part special report, "The Sex Offender Next Door," moves by the Kentucky's Supreme Court and attorney general left unanswered the question of where the more than two-thirds of Kentucky's convicted sex offenders can live.

On Oct. 1, the state high court overturned a July, 2006 law that prevented nearly all sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school, public park or day care center. Justices said the law was unconstitutional because it affected men and women convicted before the law was passed. Weeks later, Attorney General Jack Conway asked the court to stay its decision while he prepared an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The state Supreme Court said no. Thursday, Conway announced he was asking the U.S. Supreme Court to stay that state high court's decision.

A news release from Conway's office said the state Supreme Court's decision would allow more than 5,500 of the nearly 7,800 convicted sex offenders on a registry maintained by state police to move wherever they wished.

Wednesday night ABC 36 showed you how the online registry worked, enabling anyone with internet access to find out where every convicted sex offender lived.

In the conclusion to "The Sex Offender Next Door," we spoke with people living near a "cluster" of sex offenders - a cluster almost certainly related to the exclusion of sex offenders from many neighborhoods.

Their consensus: Not in my neighborhood.

That's the attitude Ginny Ramsey of the Catholic Action Center encountered when trying to find a home for multiple sex offenders.

One was in Lexington's Osage Court, off Woodhill Avenue.

"We didn't go through with the purchase because it was obvious the neighborhood was very upset and very threatening to the men we would have been moving in there," Ramsey said. Another attempt to move three sex offenders and a live-in counselor to a house on Detroit Avenue failed as well.

Asked whether it was fair or constitutional to apply the 2006 toughening of "Megan's Law" to those convicted before it was passed, Conway told ABC 36 News,

"I think there's a difference between a penalty and a burden. It's a balancing test. And you have to balance the additional burden of someone who's committed a sex offense and may, because of the nature of the offense, pose a continuing threat to society versus the needs of society.

Now Conway and the thousands of sex offenders whose lives will be affected will wait for the U.S. Supreme Court to act - or not act. If justices refused to stay the state Supreme Court decision or Conway's appeal, or hear the case and turn it down, more than 5,500 men and women convicted of crimes ranging from rape to consensual sex with an underage person will have many more options of where to live. In turn, those worried about sex offenders living nearby will have many more reasons to check Kentucky's Sexual Offender Registry more often.

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Comments (2)

 triphlehhh says:

2009-Nov-07 07:54

tamilsexstories

it is superrrrrrrr

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 cajajo says:

2009-Nov-07 03:47

editor

A big play to appear 'tough' on crimes against children. Let me tell you some things: 95% of the HUMAN BEINGS forced to register are NOT dangerous to children; many forced to register are there because of lies - vindictive women, ex-wives wanting custody, etc.; sex offenders have the lowest recidivism rate behind murder; 93% of child molestations are at the hands of family and friends; 95% of new cases have NOT been previously arrested for sex offenses; our whole court system is rife with corruption and bias; the more SO's in prison, the more money the states receive; millions of people are suffering because of laws that put innocent people at risk and lives in ruins - this includes many more children than would ever be protected by these laws that DON'T WORK.

REMEMBER JAYCEE.

http://www.pacwar.org

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