Column

Community needs convict integration program

The American judicial system should not and does not leave every sex offender in a prison to eventually die behind bars. These people are often released back into the public after serving a prison sentence with an opportunity to make good on a second chance. The recent firing of three employees at the Subway located in Purdue West highlights the need to better integrate convicts into society.

“When someone is convicted, whether it’s a felony or a misdemeanor, if they go to jail they are going to come back to the community,” said Kipp Scott, Chief Probation Officer of Tippecanoe County. “The goal that (probation and parole officers) share is to bring someone back into the community, get them acclimated – working, going to school, doing all the normal things we do every single day – and help them learn to make better choices so they don’t get in trouble again.”

The three now-unemployed men are all sex offenders living under Zachary’s Law. The law was passed in 1994 after a 10-year-old boy named Zachary Snider was molested and murdered by his neighbor, a previously convicted sex offender. The law requires sex offenders to live intensely monitored lives, which includes notifying local law enforcement of any changes in address, employment or schooling. Zachary Snider’s case is just one example that proves the necessity of this intense monitoring.