Lawmakers debate sex offender bill

Nevada lawmakers debated a bill Tuesday that would provide additional protections to victims of sex offenders, by prohibiting the offenders from moving within 1,000 feet of the victims.

Assemblyman Lynn Stewart, R-Henderson, who introduced AB325, told the Assembly Corrections, Parole and Probation Committee that as the law is written now, offenders could move across the street or next door to their victims.

Committee members also were told by a young mother, who was raped by her babysitter's boyfriend when she was four years old, that her attacker years later moved next door to her grandmother, where the victim used to live.

"I'm living this whole thing all over again when I go to my grandmother's house," she said. "I no longer want to go over there. I have to face him looking at me, laughing at me."

Lawmakers were told that in some instances, sex offenders have a difficult time finding a place to live because entire towns are off-limits. One offender moved to a rural area to comply with the rules, but when housing developments sprung up around him, he had to move away, Stewart said.

To remedy that, the bill also would give some latitude to sex offenders who are attempting to comply with the law.

Mark Woods, deputy chief of the state Division of Parole and Probation, proposed an amendment to allow the division some discretion in dealing with the 1,000-foot rule.

"It's those occasions where a person has established residence and is doing very well," Woods said. "Those are going to be the tough cases."