More than meets the eye
■There is no ‘type’ of person who
commits sex crimes, but those who do
wear the label of sex offender for life
By Lindsay Buchele
Oregon Daily Emerald
Those who work with convicted child mo
lesters and pedophiles say that the University
neighborhoods are safer places than most for
these sex offenders-to live.
Neighborhoods that are highly populated
with University students contain almost no sec
ondary schools, day care facilities, or families
with young children; therefore, these areas are
ideal locations for sex offenders to live under
the conditions of their probations.
The logic is there, said Jeff Collins, a Lane
County parole and probation officer. Sex of
fenders who have sexually assaulted minors
have few places they can live once they are re
leased on parole, since they are prohibited from
having contact with anyone under the age of 18
or with their victims.
“We place offenders in a location where they
are least likely to encounter people they should
n’t be around,” Collins said. “We wouldn’t
place an adult rapist or someone who has raped
strangers in a University neighborhood because
these are the type of people they victimized be
fore.”
But concerns go beyond just where sex of
fenders live.
“I’m more concerned about if [the offenders]
- are getting proper treatment,” said Lara Modis
ette, the sexual assault prevention and educa
tion coordinator for the ASUO Women’s Cen
ter.
Shelly Wacker, the sex offender registration
unit coordinator for the Oregon State Police,
said there are 453 registered sex offenders cur
rently living in Eugene. There are a total of 9,002
living in the state of Oregon and 87,000 living in
California as of Jan. 31.
Collins said almost all sexual offenders are
males who are either pedophiles or have mo
lested a child or relative. But, he said, the term
“sex offender” covers perpetrators convicted of
a large variety of sex crimes, which include
everything from statutory rape to Ted Bundy
type predatory assaults.
Bundy, the notorious serial killer, admitted
to sexually assaulting and killing as many as 28
women before being executed in 1989.
“The Ted Bundys of this world are not re
leased on parole,” Collins said. “Once predatory
rapists and rapists who show they will not
change their behaviors are convicted, they stay
in prison.”
However, there is a tiny population of sex of
fenders who would pose a threat to female Uni
versity students, Collins said, and they don’t
live in University neighborhoods. He said if
people are looking for a certain type of person to
watch for when it comes to sex offenders, there
isn’t one.
“Sex offenders can be staff or students at the
University,” Collins said. “There is no such
thing as a ‘type.’” Collins added that some of the
offenders under his supervision are staff and
students at the University.
Portrait of an offender
Dave* began dating a 14-year-old girl when
he was 18 years old, a relationship he says he
now understands was inappropriate. When
Dave was 20, the girl’s parents pressed charges
against him after he testified against their son,
who had assaulted Dave. He was convicted in
1992 of rape in the second degree, commonly
known as statutory rape.
He wasn’t required to serve jail time, but
rather was placed on probation, which created
ruies max Dave
had to follow. His
probation was ex
tended three times
after he was
caught drinking
alcohol — against
the rules of his
probation — and
didn’t complete
his required treat
ment program.
Dave ended up
serving nine
months in jail after
the third violation.
“I fucked up
over and over
again,” Dave said.
ine system got j
tired of dealing
with me violating my probation. ”
While in prison, Dave underwent drug and
alcohol rehabilitation. Once he was released, he
joined his wife, whom he had married in 1996,
and his daughter, who was bom in 1994.
Since he began his parole, Dave has had to
endure the intense impact of being labeled a sex
offender, including having to get permission to
live with his daughter and not having any con
tact with other minors.
“It’s so hard not being able to tell my daughter
why her friends can’t spend the night,” he said.
“She’s just too young to understand. ”
Dave said although his label as a sex offender
has had a terrible effect on his personal life, get
ting a job hasn’t been that hard.
“My employers understand the situation un
der which I was convicted,” Dave said. “Most
people understand once I explain that I didn’t
force myself on someone or try to have sex with
a five-year-old.”
Collins said that when most sex offenders are
released from prison, they have a hard time fit
ting back into society.
“Imagine getting out of prison after 10 years,”
Collins said. “You have no job skills and tech
nology has completely changed. You’re scared
to death.”
This is usually enough to keep most offenders
from re-offending, Collins said, because it’s all
too scary to go through it again.
During his treatment program, Dave has en
countered sex offenders who do force them
selves on others and do target children as their
victims. He said some of the men he’s encoun
tered will re-offend regardless of the counseling
they may undergo.
Ray Broderick, the director of the Lane Coun
ty Child Advocacy Center, an organization that
provides legal and counseling services to child
victims of sexual assault, said the center worked
with 547 children last year alone.
Broderick said despite classification of sex of
fenders, if they’ve assaulted a minor, thev Drob
The number of registered
sex offenders in*.
California....
Oregon...
Lane County..
.87,000
.9,002
763
Corvallis.
Eugene
^ „ s
Brooke Mossefin Emerald
ably won’t re-offend against an adult. He also
said, however, this doesn’t mean they are al
ways harmless to adults.
“I wouldn’t be breathing easy if an offender
had just molested children because it’s hard to
know their whole history sometimes,” Broder
ick said. “There are those few hard-core sex of
fenders who would even screw a doorknob and
are omnivorous about their victims. ”
People also tend to look at sex offenders the
wrong way, Broderick said.
“Offenders claim they were abused as chil
dren, but if you look at the majority of those who
have been offended, they are females,” Broder
ick said. “Yet the offenders are males — where
are the female offenders?”
Treatment and risk
Once sex offenders are released from prison,
they are required to enroll in and complete an
approved program for the treatment of sex of
fenders, therapist Judy K. Vogelsang said. This
is an extensive therapy process that often means
sex offenders will be in treatment for the entire
length of their paroles.
Turn to Offenders, page 5A
Decision to notify
rests with local officers
Since 1993, Oregon law has allowed
community relations departments to as
sess whether or not to notify residents in
a neighborhood of a sex offender’s pres
ence, and how to handle it if notification
is deemed necessary, Lane County Parole
and Probation Officer Jeff Collins said,
Shelly Wacker, the sex offender reg
istration unit coordinator for the Ore
gon State Police, said community rela
tions departments can give notification
only for offenders on parole for sexual
offenses.
“If a man who has molested an 8-year
old moves into an apartment complex
where there are no children, he is not in
an area where there is a risk pool,”
Collins said. “We consider a lack of vic
tim population and how well an offender
is doing with his treatment before we
send out a notification. A notification can
just blow people up.”
Collins said although he and his col
leagues may not necessarily notify resi
dents, they always notify law enforce
ment, the University Department of
Public Safety, and officers assigned to the
University whenever a sex offender
moves into a University neighborhood,
“It’s also a matter of protection for the
offender’s family and victims,” Collins
said. “If putting the offender’s name out
into the community would hurt his wife
or children, we would consider that be
fore releasing the name. ”
He also said notification can provide
people with a false sense of security. Dri
ving kids to school to avoid having them
walk by an offender’s house is an overre
action, he said.
“It’s far more likely that someone’s
child is going to get hurt in a minivan
than by a child molester/’ Collins said.
DPS Associate Director Tom Hicks
said the University does not keep any
records on students, staff or faculty mem
bers who are convicted sexual offenders.
“If there were any instances of sexual
assaults occurring, we would provide the
specifics of the crime,” Hicks said. “If we
got specific information about an indi
vidual, we would look to the authorities
to determine how to notify the campus. ”
No matter how much notification is
given about convicted sex offenders,
therapist Judy K. Vogelsang said there are
offenders out there who have never been
convicted whom no one knows about.
“The most dangerous offenders are the
ones who haven’t been caught yet,” Vo
gelsang said. “They are living every
where from the Whiteaker district to the
Southwest Hills. We need to be awake
and aware of those around us.”
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