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City issues in Nebraska

CattleRMe

Well-known member
New Poll – Should the City of North Platte limit where sex offenders can live?
North Platte Bulletin Staff


A number of Nebraska cities have passed ordinances limiting where convicted sex offenders can live. Should North Platte? Cast your vote at the bottom of this page.
There are 72 registered sex offenders living in North Platte. 32 of those are listed as Level 3 offenders whom the Nebraska State Patrol says have a “high likelihood” to reoffend.

There are 30 Level 2s and 10 Level 1 offenders. The names of those offenders are not released to the public but are released to law enforcement, schools and day care facilities.

The Bulletin reported last week that North Platte has the highest ratio of Level 3 offenders to residents of any Class I city in Nebraska.

Of the 10 largest cities in the state, North Platte has the highest number of sex offenders per capita —one in every 748 residents. Scottsbluff, with 17 sexual offenders, ranks second with one offender in every 868 residents. Norfolk ranks third with an offender per every 918 residents.

Lincoln, which lists 229 sexual offenders in the city, ranks fourth with an offender per every 985 people.

Omaha, which has 241 high-risk sex offenders living within it, ranks eighth. There is one high-risk sex offender per every 1,618 people there.

The Ogallala City Council Monday passed an ordinance limiting the areas Level 3 sex offenders can live.

The city requires that Level 3 sex offenders cannot live within 500 feet of a school, daycare or other child care facility. The penalty for violating the ordinance can amount to $1,000 per day the offender is in violation.

Other Nebraska cities that has passed similar ordinances are Omaha, Lincoln, Norfolk, Franklin, Benedict, Fairbury, La Vista, Papillion, Wayne, South Sioux City, Dakota City and Gretna, among others.

The ordinances are based on a 2002 Iowa law upheld by the 8th U.S. Court of Appeals last year.

To date, North Platte or no Lincoln County village has such ordinance on their books.


In 2000, Alabama, California, Illinois and Kentucky were the first states to enact rules that limit where certain convicted sex offenders can live, even those who are not on parole.

Now at least 15 states limit where sex offenders can live. A law in Iowa withstood a constitutional challenge in federal court last year.

Some wonder whether cities are going too far and creating a new problem: The stricter ordinances could cause sex offenders to go underground and avoid registering, some say, making it more difficult for cities to track the offenders.

Opponents say offenders have to live someplace and worry that if they can’t live someplace legally, they’ll live there illegally. They worry that law enforcement would lose track of some offenders.

Scott Matson, research associate for the Center for Sex Offender Management, a Maryland nonprofit group funded by the U.S. Justice Department, said some organizations have raised concerns about legislation that pushes offenders to rural parts of states, where there are smaller police forces to monitor offenders and less available treatment.
 

CattleRMe

Well-known member
What is the right answer for sex offenders that are rated to reoffend? I don't want them in my community but what do they do with them? I think they keep them in jail forever. As a tax payer I'd rather pay for that then have innocent children in jeopardy.
 

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