Many Communities Create Child Safety Zones

Public-Place Laws Tighten Rein on Sex Offenders.  (The New York Times, 5/29/2012)

Excerpt:  From North Carolina to Washington State, communities have designated swimming pools, parks and school bus stops as “child safety zones,” off limits to some sex offenders. They are barred from libraries in half a dozen Massachusetts cities, and from all public facilities in tiny Huachuca City, Ariz. 

“Child safety zones are being passed more and more at the city and county level,” said Elizabeth Jeglic, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “It’s becoming more and more restrictive. They’re not only limiting where sex offenders can live, but they’re limiting their movement as well.”


Louisiana takes a statewide approach with its library ban for certain sex offenders.

House backs limit on sex offenders.  (Baton Rouge Advocate, 5/25/2012)

Excerpt:   The Louisiana House altered then approved legislation that would put public libraries off-limits to certain sex offenders. The House voted 63-23 for the measure, which returns to the Senate for concurrence in House changes.Senate Bill 753, sponsored by state Sen. Dale Erdey, R-Livingston, would make it unlawful for a person convicted of a sex offense when the victim is under age 13 to be physically present in or on public library property. The same offender would be banned from loitering within 1,000 feet of the library property.


Iowa passed a sex offender law in 2009 with the following public library stipulations:

A sex offender convicted of a sex offense against a minor shall: 

• Not be present upon the real property of a public library without the written permission of the library administrator.  
• Not loiter within three hundred feet of the real property boundary of a public library. 
• Not be employed by or volunteer for a public library.

Sex offender policies in selected Iowa public libraries.