From the Fargo Forum:
GPS tracking, more treatment and longer probations after prison could help protect North Dakotans from sex offenders, a state task force said Wednesday.
The group, comprised mostly of law enforcement officials, politicians and attorneys, met in Fargo to review how the state handles violent and sexual offenders.
Gov. John Hoeven began forming the committee last month after public outcry from the Dru Sjodin case in Grand Forks. Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., a convicted rapist who was released from a Minnesota prison last spring, was charged with kidnapping the missing college student but has denied any involvement.
At Wednesday's meeting, committee members focused on the importance of supervising offenders after prison.
Warren Emmer, director of field services for the Department of Corrections, said recidivism rates for sex offenders are highest in the two or three years after their release from prison. Having those offenders under supervised probation -- a condition that judges must hand down at sentencing -- greatly helps reduce that risk, Emmer said.
I agree that better tracking of released sex offenders will help, but we should also look at keeping the high-risk offenders in jail. I don't think officials are looking at keeping these offenders in jail because North Dakota has a problem with prisons being crowded as it is.
There is no obvious solution to the problem of recidivism by sex offenders. Many solutions, like GPS tracking or chemical castration, are too easily circumvented. The best solution would be to dedicate more resources (tax dollars and corrections personnel) to these sex offenders, but such resources are hard to come by.
But there is hope.
In my opinion, a good way to free up resources for a new undertaking of this type would be to shift some focus from minor crimes (like possession of marijuana) up to more major crimes, like sex offenders. This type of shift in priorities coupled with a slight increase in state spending may be enough to provide an adequate solution for the problem without putting an unwarranted burden on the tax payer or the corrections system.
Also posted on North Dakota Blogs.