Live in a low crime area? Think your family isn't in danger? Think again.

Thu, Jul. 31, 2003
Akron Beacon-Journal

Predators could strike again
State finds 1,000 sex offenders at risk in inmate review after Wayne girl's murder. Bill to strengthen laws

COLUMBUS - The state has identified about 1,000 additional convicted sex offenders at risk of striking again, according to a study done following the rape and slaying of a 14-year-old Wayne County girl.

Click on the "Read More..." link below.

The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction rescreened almost 9,000 inmates earlier this year as part of a review of Ohio's sex offender laws.

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Gov. Bob Taft today is expected to sign a bill strengthening those laws. He ordered the review after the September rape and murder of Kristen Jackson, who was abducted at the Wayne County Fair by a recently paroled neighbor whose sex-offender history wasn't known to Kristen's family.

Under current law, local police only have to notify neighbors about repeat offenders and those labeled sexual predators by judges, meaning they have been deemed at risk of committing additional sex crimes.

The man who raped and murdered the 14-year old in Wayne County had already been classified as a low-level sex offender, following his rape of a 17-year-old Wooster girl. Because he was considered low-level, not a sexual predator, sheriff's deputies did not warn neighbors when he moved in with his parents in March 2002.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Jeff Jacobson, a Dayton-area Republican, will extend the notification requirement to all convicted sex offenders.

OFCC PAC Commentary
Even persons living in Ohio's smallest communities, where crime rates are low and violent crimes almost nonexistent, are likely to have sexual predators in their neighborhoods.

As an Akron family recently experienced first-hand when a man attempted to kidnap their daughter who was only ten feet away, no place is totally free of worry.

So why did Bob Taft force his will upon the Senate to amend HB12 so that parents cannot defend their children? And why did the Senate agree to put politics ahead of safety, instead doing the right thing?

A better question still - which body (Senate or Governor) is going to stand up and be counted, and fix HB12 so that kids' parents have a fighting chance against violent attack?

Related Stories:
Ohio sex offenders: Where are they?

Click here to read the full story in the Akron Beacon Journal.