Should Halloween be off-limits for sex offenders?

A California county tells people convicted of molesting children not to put up decorations or give out candy. Is that unfair or a smart precaution?

Under a new California county law, convicted sex offenders cannot decorate their homes or answer the door to trick or treaters Halloween night.
(Image credit: CC BY: Dave Herholz)

With Halloween fast approaching, leaders in Tulare County, Calif., have passed a law barring anyone convicted of sexual crimes against children from decorating their homes and passing out candy to trick-or-treaters. County supervisors called it a simple safety precaution, but critics warned that courts might see the rule as a violation of the sex offenders' First Amendment rights. Is this an easy way to make a child-oriented holiday safer, or is the local government overstepping its authority by saying who can and can't celebrate Halloween?

They mean well, but the ban is wrong: "The impulse is certainly understandable," says Tracy Clark-Flory at Salon. Crossing sex offenders' homes off the "trick-or-treating route" will ease parents' minds. But these people "have served their time." It doesn't seem entirely "fair" — or even legal — for the local government to single them out like this.

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