Sex-Offenders Banned From Libraries
By: Paul Sweazy
Updated: June 9, 2012
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal added his signature to Senate bill 753 this morning, making the ban on certain sex-offenders in public libraries law. The legislation is designed to keep child abusers away from a place where kids often gather.
S.B. 753 speccifies that sex-offenders whose victim was under the age of thirteen stay 1000 feet from any pubic library. How libraries will enforce the rule remains a question. Libraries do not have the resources to identify sex-offenders, so it will be up to police to devise an enforcement plan.
When a new law is passed, police first notify every officer of the change, then meet with city attorneys to design a method of enforcement. It is not clear at this time how police might identify and deter sex-offenders from public libraries.
S.B. 753 does require that the governing boards of the state's public library system write their own rules by January 1, 2013, regarding library access for sex-offenders. Therefore libraries will be allowed to allow sex-offenders into their facilities under certain circumstances.
