Georgia restricts sex offenders on Halloween.
Strangers with candy — the convicted sex offender kind — are statistically no more likely to tempt children on Halloween than on other days of the year, but that hasn’t stopped Georgia and other states from taking extra precautions.
Georgia has no law specifically prohibiting sex offenders from participating in Halloween activities. However, state agencies tasked with supervising them have issued stringent restrictions for this weekend to keep trick-or-treaters safe.
Sex offenders on parole or probation are being told to turn off their outside lights and refrain from decorating their homes for the holiday. They must not answer the door unless it’s to a law enforcement officer or an emergency responder, said Steve Hayes, spokesman for the state Board of Pardons and Paroles, which supervises about 500 paroled sex offenders.
“That is completely forbidden and could lead to an arrest warrant for violation of parole,” said Hayes.
Approximately 20,000 registered sex offenders live in Georgia.
The state Department of Corrections, which supervises roughly 6,000 of them, is requiring sex offenders to adhere to a curfew on Halloween weekend: It’s on both Saturday and Sunday from 6 p.m. at night through 5 a.m. the following morning.
As part of “Operation Safe Halloween,” probation officers will visit some sex offenders’ homes at random to ensure compliance, said Peggy Chapman, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections.
If you or a family member is charged with a crime that would make them a registered sex offender, call us at 678-324-8511 or click here to discuss the particulars of your case by scheduling an initial consultation. You deserve to go through this ordeal with a committed defense attorney on your team.
