(WHAS11) - Many parents know there's a law on the books banning convicted sex offenders from living near where their children play. But that law has been tweaked temporarily.
Because of a Kentucky State Supreme Court ruling, sex offenders convicted before 2006 can now live near parks, day cares and playgrounds.
"That is so frustrating because our children are the most precious things we have," said grandmother Elsa Robles. "They should be nowhere near where our children are playing, going to school or anything like that."
But Lucy Lee, Director of The Exploited Children's Help Organization, says there are plenty of sex offenders whose pictures aren't posted on the sex offender registry website.
"There are many hundreds, probably thousands of sex offenders that are walking the streets every day that are not convicted," said Director of ECHO Lucy Lee.
And picture or no picture, she says a law written on paper isn't going to keep your child safe.
"These laws might not have as strong an impact in child protection as parents might begin to think," she said. "So parents need to be ever vigilant and teach their children how to stay safe."
And Kay Cain and Jean Blankman agree. Others, however, don't.
"I believe that it's the parents’ responsibility in the first place to keep vigilant watch over their children," said Kay Cain.
"People can go places where they want to go. So just because they don't live near the park doesn't mean they're not going to be in the park. So you still have to watch your kids," said Jean Blankman.
"From what we've heard on the headlines there are children being snatched and kidnapped left and right and being hurt and killed, and yet, you know that parents are keeping their eye on them," said Robles.
The Attorney General's Office says: “We are in the process of filing a motion with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking it to suspend the Kentucky Supreme Court’s ruling until it determines whether or not our case will be heard in front of the nation’s highest court. We will be asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review this case because, while we understand there are constitutional issues regarding retro activity, we have serious public safety concerns about sex offenders living near where children congregate. This case has far-reaching implications for many other states that have laws similar to Kentucky’s that have resulted in varied state court rulings. We are hopeful the U.S. Supreme Court will hear our case.” -- Allison Gardner Martin, Communications Director.
