List of sex offenders: Handle with care
By STACY FORSTERsforster@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Dec. 18, 2005
Madison - Since logging on to the state's sex offender registry Web site, Corinne O'Neill has made a few changes around her house.
Sex Offender Registry
What To Do?
To forward a tip to the Department of Corrections, call (877) 234-0085 or e-mail docsafetips@doc.state.wi.us
On the Web
offender.doc.state.wi.us/public mapsexoffenders.com
For one, she will no longer allow her 11-year-old son to walk to a neighborhood ice cream stand with friends. Since the state started posting the sex offenders' addresses on Dec. 1, O'Neill knows a sex offender lives near the ice cream stand.
"That's not happening anymore," O'Neill said, adding she's also printed out the Web site pictures of registered sex offenders in her vicinity and talked with her son and two younger children about her concerns and what they can do to stay safe.
O'Neill, of Horicon, is one of thousands of Wisconsin residents who have checked the Web site since the state Department of Corrections started posting the addresses. The Web site, offender.doc.state.wi.us/public, averages more than 15,000 visits a day, compared with about 2,800 a day before the addresses were included.
Other Web sites, such as mapsexoffenders.com, use the state data to map the sex offenders listed in proximity to the address a user enters. Department of Corrections Secretary Matthew Frank said people using other sites should still check the Wisconsin page to be sure the information is accurate.
"The most important thing is that people know that, so they can take appropriate steps to protect themselves and their families," Frank said.
The state Web site contains information about almost 18,000 registered sex offenders. In addition to addresses, the site includes such details as the registrants' names, aliases, details of their convictions and photos. Advocates of community notification said adding addresses is a good start, and they are encouraging the department to make even more information available.
Law enforcement officials said there hasn't been a notable increase in calls from concerned residents since the Web site was enhanced. There is great value in making such information public, they said, but residents also should be cautioned against overreacting or feeling like their safety is threatened.
"The purpose of notifications . . . is to prevent crime and make people aware of it," said West Allis Police Chief Dean Puschnig. "But for you or me or anyone in the community to say, 'I don't want a sex offender to be living anywhere within 10 miles' of their house, that's not realistic."
Stan Stojkovic, dean of the Helen Bader School of Social Welfare at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, said the term "sex offender" is a broad one, and of the 1,600 registered sex offenders living in Milwaukee County, many pose no threat to strangers.
Stojkovic served as chairman of a committee charged with recommending sites for a group home for sexually violent offenders in Milwaukee County. The committee offered no recommended locations after meeting stiff opposition when the sites were made public.
He understands why learning that a sex offender lives down the street might put people on edge.
"You have competing values that are equally legitimate: on one hand, the public's right to know about sex offenders in their communities, and on the other hand, the privacy concerns of the offenders to live and work in a community," Stojkovic said.
Reaching out to neighbors
Those who have learned a sex offender is nearby their homes or their children's schools are making small changes to make themselves more secure. O'Neill said she doesn't regret checking the site, even if it means she is more anxious than before. She's also made an effort to talk with other neighbors who have children, and they've agreed to look out for each other, she said.
Yvette Stampere of West Bend has taken similar steps. She used the Web site and found out a sex offender lived down the block. She considered alerting the entire neighborhood but decided to first talk to the woman with two young daughters who lived next door to the offender's home.
The neighbor told Stampere that the parents of the sex offender already had told her about his presence, and they were "devastated" by the situation. Stampere decided not to spread the word and instead is keeping a closer eye on her children.
"You start out finding this information and your emotions get the best of you, but once you start talking to people, then you kind of calm down a little bit and see there are other people involved," Stampere said. "We're all just keeping an eye on each other now - that's as much as we can do."
Stojkovic said the Web site could turn out to be a good community building tool if people use it as an opportunity to get to know their neighbors.
"The best thing is that you know who these people are," Stojkovic said.
Sandy Maher-Johnson, co-president of Citizens for a Safe Wisconsin, which is pushing for tougher sex offender laws in the state, said it was a positive step for residents to have Web access to the registrants' addresses.
Still, the group would like to see the site post more information, such as physical descriptions, details about the conditions of parole for those in that situation and a history of convictions - including the one that landed the sex offender on the registry.
"We're not doing this as a scare tactic or to get people riled up, but the public should have good information to make informed decisions and make informed precautions," she said.
Wisconsin should require registered sex offenders to check in every six months, as other states do, said Rep. Scott Suder (R-Abbotsford). Such a check-in should include taking a new photograph for the Web site, he said.
"Right now, we trust them to be where they say they are, and live where they say they are," Suder said.
Frank said his department already is working on how to expand the information available, and he encourages the public to use a new hotline to relay information about someone on the registry.
From the Dec. 19, 2005 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Posted: Dec. 18, 2005
Madison - Since logging on to the state's sex offender registry Web site, Corinne O'Neill has made a few changes around her house.
Sex Offender Registry
What To Do?
To forward a tip to the Department of Corrections, call (877) 234-0085 or e-mail docsafetips@doc.state.wi.us
On the Web
offender.doc.state.wi.us/public mapsexoffenders.com
For one, she will no longer allow her 11-year-old son to walk to a neighborhood ice cream stand with friends. Since the state started posting the sex offenders' addresses on Dec. 1, O'Neill knows a sex offender lives near the ice cream stand.
"That's not happening anymore," O'Neill said, adding she's also printed out the Web site pictures of registered sex offenders in her vicinity and talked with her son and two younger children about her concerns and what they can do to stay safe.
O'Neill, of Horicon, is one of thousands of Wisconsin residents who have checked the Web site since the state Department of Corrections started posting the addresses. The Web site, offender.doc.state.wi.us/public, averages more than 15,000 visits a day, compared with about 2,800 a day before the addresses were included.
Other Web sites, such as mapsexoffenders.com, use the state data to map the sex offenders listed in proximity to the address a user enters. Department of Corrections Secretary Matthew Frank said people using other sites should still check the Wisconsin page to be sure the information is accurate.
"The most important thing is that people know that, so they can take appropriate steps to protect themselves and their families," Frank said.
The state Web site contains information about almost 18,000 registered sex offenders. In addition to addresses, the site includes such details as the registrants' names, aliases, details of their convictions and photos. Advocates of community notification said adding addresses is a good start, and they are encouraging the department to make even more information available.
Law enforcement officials said there hasn't been a notable increase in calls from concerned residents since the Web site was enhanced. There is great value in making such information public, they said, but residents also should be cautioned against overreacting or feeling like their safety is threatened.
"The purpose of notifications . . . is to prevent crime and make people aware of it," said West Allis Police Chief Dean Puschnig. "But for you or me or anyone in the community to say, 'I don't want a sex offender to be living anywhere within 10 miles' of their house, that's not realistic."
Stan Stojkovic, dean of the Helen Bader School of Social Welfare at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, said the term "sex offender" is a broad one, and of the 1,600 registered sex offenders living in Milwaukee County, many pose no threat to strangers.
Stojkovic served as chairman of a committee charged with recommending sites for a group home for sexually violent offenders in Milwaukee County. The committee offered no recommended locations after meeting stiff opposition when the sites were made public.
He understands why learning that a sex offender lives down the street might put people on edge.
"You have competing values that are equally legitimate: on one hand, the public's right to know about sex offenders in their communities, and on the other hand, the privacy concerns of the offenders to live and work in a community," Stojkovic said.
Reaching out to neighbors
Those who have learned a sex offender is nearby their homes or their children's schools are making small changes to make themselves more secure. O'Neill said she doesn't regret checking the site, even if it means she is more anxious than before. She's also made an effort to talk with other neighbors who have children, and they've agreed to look out for each other, she said.
Yvette Stampere of West Bend has taken similar steps. She used the Web site and found out a sex offender lived down the block. She considered alerting the entire neighborhood but decided to first talk to the woman with two young daughters who lived next door to the offender's home.
The neighbor told Stampere that the parents of the sex offender already had told her about his presence, and they were "devastated" by the situation. Stampere decided not to spread the word and instead is keeping a closer eye on her children.
"You start out finding this information and your emotions get the best of you, but once you start talking to people, then you kind of calm down a little bit and see there are other people involved," Stampere said. "We're all just keeping an eye on each other now - that's as much as we can do."
Stojkovic said the Web site could turn out to be a good community building tool if people use it as an opportunity to get to know their neighbors.
"The best thing is that you know who these people are," Stojkovic said.
Sandy Maher-Johnson, co-president of Citizens for a Safe Wisconsin, which is pushing for tougher sex offender laws in the state, said it was a positive step for residents to have Web access to the registrants' addresses.
Still, the group would like to see the site post more information, such as physical descriptions, details about the conditions of parole for those in that situation and a history of convictions - including the one that landed the sex offender on the registry.
"We're not doing this as a scare tactic or to get people riled up, but the public should have good information to make informed decisions and make informed precautions," she said.
Wisconsin should require registered sex offenders to check in every six months, as other states do, said Rep. Scott Suder (R-Abbotsford). Such a check-in should include taking a new photograph for the Web site, he said.
"Right now, we trust them to be where they say they are, and live where they say they are," Suder said.
Frank said his department already is working on how to expand the information available, and he encourages the public to use a new hotline to relay information about someone on the registry.
From the Dec. 19, 2005 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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