Blogger Lenore Skenazy reprints a valuable article looking at the “urban myth” of children being targeted by sexual predators at Halloween.
Paul Stern, a deputy prosecutor in Snohomish County, Wash., agrees [that there is zero evidence for such a belief]. ”People want to protect kids; they want to do the right thing and they make decisions based on what at first glance may make some sense. Sex offenders, costumes, kids — what a bad combination,” he said. ”Unfortunately, those kinds of policies are not always based on any analysis or scientific evidence,” said Stern, who started prosecuting sex offenders who victimized children in 1985.
Read the whole thing.
I know that in my state, there are government employees whose job it is to check up on the registered sex offenders and make sure that they are not giving out candy – and I think that’s a reasonable precaution to take when we’re talking about those convicted for preying on children.
That is precisely Lenore Skenazy’s point: To keep your children home on Halloween because of some nebulous fear of sexual predators is irrational. Sexual predators are under the *most* surveillance then.