Going too far

Two Cape Girardeau County men who are registered sex offenders face charges under a new Missouri law that requires them to refrain from Halloween activities involving children. The law, which already has withstood a challenge in federal court, is a bad law that sanctions selective harassment of convicted sexual offenders while providing no more protection than an existing law that requires sex offenders to be registered so the public can know of their crimes and their whereabouts.

The law requiring sex offenders to register with the sheriff's department has provided information useful to the public, especially when offenders move from county to county. Law-abiding residents have a right to know who the sex offenders are and where they live so they can take appropriate precautions.

The so-called Halloween law, however, goes far beyond providing information to the public. It requires sex offenders to stay indoors, turn off their porch lights and post a sign saying "No candy or treats at this residence." (How anyone can read the sign without a light is unclear.)

This Halloween, the first since the law went into effect in August, sheriff's deputies checked on 13 of the more than 85 addresses of registered sexual offenders in Cape Girardeau County. Three summonses for violations were issued, including one to a man who wasn't at home. One of the charges later was dismissed.

One of the summonses was issued to a man who planned to stay in the upstairs bedroom of his parents' home. Thus the new law effectively curbed the activities of law-abiding citizens as well.

This new law goes too far. It smacks of the scarlet A (for adulterer) that Hester Prynne was forced to wear in "The Scarlet Letter." It has overtones of the yellow Star of David Jews were forced to wear under Nazi orders. Let the sex-offender registry do its job. This additional legal broadside is unnecessary.