A novel approach by neighborhoods concerned about sex offenders in their midst may usher in a golden age of pocket parks, but its contribution to public safety remains up for debate.

The city of Los Angeles is building three tiny parks in two communities that are home to clusters of convicted sex offenders, in an effort to drive them away. Proposition 83, known as Jessica’s Law when it passed in 2006, prohibits persons convicted of sex crimes from living within 2,000 feet of a park or school, greatly limiting their ability to find housing. As a result, they tend to gather in a limited number of communities, concentrated in multi-unit residences located in industrial areas.

Harbor Gateway in southern Los Angeles has 33 registered sex offenders living in a single apartment building and the community wants them out. So they are building a park on one-fifth of an acre nearby to force their evictions. According to the Los Angeles Times, 86 offenders live in a 13-block area. Two more pocket parks are planned for Wilmington, also located in the harbor area.   

Most states have passed laws that restrict where convicted sex offenders can live. In California, a number of communities have passed additional restrictions, some of which have run afoul of the courts. They attempt a balancing act, not always successful, between civil liberties, individual community fears and general public safety.

Jessica’s Law has had marked impact on registered sex offenders who have been imprisoned. The residency requirement is made part of parole and enforced by parole agents, but that was challenged in court and found to be unconstitutional last year by the Fourth Appellate District of the California Court of Appeal. The state Supreme Court agreed in January to hear the case.

Critics of the pocket park initiatives say additional restrictions will lead to increased homelessness and higher recidivism rates. Reports from the California State Sex Offender Management Board show that more than 30% of paroled sex offenders are homeless and that the number of homeless registered sex offenders has tripled since laws were toughened in 2006.

Many of those in Harbor Gateway were directed there by parole officers to keep them off the streets and in places where they could be more easily supervised.

One anonymous landlord who spoke to the New York Times said concentrated transitional housing used by the parolees comes with additional restrictions on drinking, drug use and pornography, along with curfews and keypad-operated door locks, which allow for better control of their behavior. Studies show that sex offenders lacking stable housing are more likely to commit crimes again.

But that is of limited concern to parents with young children or other residents with NIMBY (not in my back yard) demands.

–Ken Broder  

To Learn More:

Neighborhoods Seek to Banish Sex Offenders by Building Parks (by Ian Lovett, New York Times)

LA Building Parks to Force out Sex Offenders (by Janet Kwak and Dave Douglass, NBC Southern California)

L.A. Sees Parks as a Weapon against Sex Offenders (by Angel Jennings, Los Angeles Times)

State Supreme Court to Hear Jessica's Law Challenge (by Kelly Davis, San Diego City Beat)

Court Blocks Virtual Residency Ban on Paroled Sex Offenders (by Ken Broder, AllGov California)