US Not Alone in the Struggle to Monitor Sex Offenders

December 21, 2005

Despite the adoption of a new system meant to monitor the whereabouts of sex offenders, Japan is finding it difficult to keep track of every offender once released from prison. The National Police Agency (NPA) cannot locate nine of the 83 recently released child sex offenders. The ffenders went missing immediately upon release from prison.

Japan’s new system was initiated following the kidnap and murder of a 7-year-old girl by a man with a history of sexual predation on young girls. The system does not require offenders to report new addresses when they move, for fear that excessive surveillance might prevent the reintegration of offenders into society. NPA officials admit that the system has flaws that will make it hard to keep track of anyone who wants to disappear, and recent events may spur Japan to look for new methods of prevention.

Meanwhile, several states in the US are searching for ways to improve surveillance of convicted sexual predators. Some, like Kentucky, are actually sweeping the state, looking for non-compliant offenders. Others, like Oklahoma, have proposals of GPS monitoring to prevent losing the whereabouts of offenders in the first place.

For more information see the Daily Yomiuri Online, the Japan Times Online, and the Courier-Journal.com.