Once Fallen
"Through Knowledge and Wisdom Shall We Rise From The Ashes"
<-- BACK TO INDEX

Tricks-Not-Treats: Halloween Predator Panic Laws
Derek “The Fallen One” Logue
October 15, 2008, Addendums added November 10, 2008

I remember coming home from “trick-or-treating” as a child and turning over my bag of candy to my mother
for inspection. After all, one of our neighbors could have slipped rat poison in our Tootsie Rolls or razor
blades in our apples. Aside from certain choice pieces missing as a result of mom’s ingestion... er,
“inspection” process, my mother never found any razor blades or rat poison in our Halloween Candy.
Despite virtually no confirmed cases of Halloween poisonings, the myth has remained a constant in our
culture [1].
In recent years, a new Halloween myth has emerged – the “sexual predator.” Similar to the poisoning myth,
the Halloween sexual predator myth involves panic over a virtually non-existent threat and the typical
corresponding response to the perceived threat. CNN reports a number of states (Incl. CA, MD, SC, TN,
TX, VA, and WI) are passing laws restricting sex offender activities during Halloween. A typical Halloween
law aimed at sex offenders includes some or all of the following restrictions (below are the TN laws):

1.        Do not answer the door to trick-or-treaters
2.        No passing out of candy to children
3.        No holiday decorations on homes
4.        No visits to haunted houses, corn mazes, hay rides or other seasonal activities
5.        Do not attend any party where children are gathered
6.        No costumes
7.        No trick-or-treating [2]

Maryland has taken this law a step further, requiring Former Sex Offenders to place signs on their doors
saying “No Candy at This Residence [3].” Louisiana passed a law barring Former Sex Offenders from
wearing masks at carnivals and Halloween [4]. Missouri forces Former Sex Offenders to stay indoors, turn
off all their lights, and have no contact with children [5].
These laws beg the question, “Are these laws effective or even necessary?” Certainly there are a lot of
concerns with the law.

Halloween Laws Based on FEAR not FACT

The common mantra of proponents of sex offender laws is “it will make things safer/ protect children.”
However, a simple Yahoo or Google search on “Kids Molested During Halloween” will turn up no cases of
such a case happening, an experiment emulated by others with similar results [6]. A Live Science article
describes the panic quite perfectly:

“While children's safety is important, the concern far outweighs the real danger. There is no reason to
think that sex offenders pose any more of a threat to children on Halloween than at any other time. In fact,
there has not been a single case of any child being molested by a convicted sex offender while
trick-or-treating.
These measures are popular and well-intentioned—but ultimately ineffective—publicity stunts offered by
police and politicians to placate parents. They provide a false sense of security, since there is no evidence
that the policies actually make children any safer. Any opportunistic sexual predators who would attack
children will simply wait until the next day.
Ironically, a group of children dressed in costume at a sex offender's doorway are probably safer than at
many other places they could be, including their own homes. This is because, contrary to popular
belief, most released sex offenders do not re-offend, and because most attacks on children occur in
their own home by someone they know.
Furthermore, the simple logistics of trick-or-treating make an assault very unlikely. A sex offender would
have great difficultly molesting a child who is in costume, outside his or her front door, and in front
of other people and witnesses.
Of course, the knowledge that such an attack has never happened and is very unlikely to ever
occur won't calm the hysterical concern [7].”

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel offers the only recorded incident of any child raped and killed while out
trick-or-treating. In 1973, a nine-year-old was killed by Gerald Turner, known as the “Halloween Killer.”
Because of Turner, Wisconsin residents hold trick-or-treating during daytime hours [8]. However, the f/k/a
Harvard Law Blog found two interesting things regarding the Turner case:

  1. The 9 year old girl was trick-or-treating alone and went to the house of a stranger, and
  2. Turner had no prior criminal record, so if such a law existed in 1973, the Halloween sex offender
    laws would not have applied to Turner. Thus, to date there is STILL no recorded incident of a
    child molested or killed by a convicted sex offender on Halloween. [9]

The Predator Panic surrounding Halloween and sex offenders can be called “Halloweenitis.” Below is the E-
Advocate definition of Halloweenitis:

"Halloween-itis is a coined term used to describe a mental abnormality often occurring in public servants
and politically aspiring persons who can pass this psychological disorder onto others, generally
occurring around holidays and elections. The disease is characterized by abnormal delusional
visions of perceived horrific events creating an aura of public fear; these doomsayers get their
rewards by painting a picture of "the sky is falling" and alienating the public. Significant harm is caused by
people so afflicted because the objects of their obsession are persons which society already looks down
on (including their family members), and the collateral harm caused society is truly a tragedy.
Halloweenitis is a subset of offenderitis, and both are incurable social diseases because these
people refuse to face reality, or facts and statistics which prove them wrong, they discount these
facts and statistics because in their minds they only see horrific events in everyday life
circumstances Those afflicted with Halloweenitis, fear based, focus on denial of civil rights of other
persons under the pretext of public safety [10].”

In short, the laws are based far more on fear than in fact. There is only ONE documented case of a sex
offense occurring on Halloween, back in 1973, committed by someone with NO prior record. Meanwhile,
there have been more documented cases of foreign objects in Halloween candy. Thus, the laws are based
strictly on Predator Panic rather than truth.

Litigation Against Sex Offender Halloween Laws

A group of Former Offenders recently filed suit against Missouri’s Halloween laws for vagueness (including
whether they are allowed to dress their own children up in costumes), ex post facto violations, fails to
provide guidelines to prevent arbitrary or discriminatory enforcement, and makes offenders targets for
vigilantism and pranks [11]. The ACLU has taken up the cause (for once) so it remains to be seen what
else will be argued on this case.
 Personally, this case reeks of the segregation days of the civil rights era. Halloween laws, coupled with
residency restrictions, reintroduce the segregation concept into our society. The trend is becoming
painfully obvious as comments are added to the aforementioned Washington Times article [3]:

“This is absolutely despicable. What's next, a Red "A" for adulterers, the Star of David to label Jews,
Crosses for Christians? How about some kind of label for those who hate animals, those who don't
recycle, or don't limit their families to two children?”

“These laws have good intentions, but are not what Americans are supposed to embrace. Soon everyone
who's had a DWI will have a bumper sticker that says "my party is more important than your life," every
divorcee will have a sign that says "Unwilling to commit," etc., etc. until everyone is properly labeled for
every mistake they've ever made in their life. Then maybe we could establish towns for each category, so
the good people don't have to be subjected to the evils of the lesser ones around them. Then we will all be
safe and happy, right? No, I didn't think so!”

Hopefully, the ACLU will include a civil rights argument to the fray.

Conclusion

Halloween laws aimed at sex offenders are perhaps the most blatant of excesses in feel-good legislation.
There is no rational basis to pass these laws except to instill fear in the lives of constituents and garner
votes. There has never been a documented case of a sex offender molesting or killing a child on
Halloween. Furthermore, the laws merely reinforce the segregationist movement and make former
offenders who have served their time targets of more harassment and vigilante violence. This final article
sums up Halloweenitis quite nicely:

“With Halloween now two weeks away, it’s time to start thinking about Halloween safety. OK, that’s an
understatement: if the local news programs are to be believed it’ time to start panicking. Poisoned Pixie
Stix, needles-stuck Snickers, and razor-wielding Raisinets lurk behind every Jack-o-lantern-guarded door.
Evil ne’er-do-wells lurk ready to pluck your children off the streets and do unspeakable things to
them. The dead walk the earth and seek to steal the the souls of the unwary.
I mock, but only because these myths of Halloween are so eminently mockable. As it happens, Halloween
has generated a host of safety myths, turning a once wholesome celebration of zombies, vampires, and
other dead, undead, and half-dead things into something rather more sinister. Let’s examine some of
these myths…
There’s child molesters roaming free in my neighborhood! You might have looked at one of the scare-sites
(appropriate for Halloween, I suppose) that show you how many registered sex offenders live within spitting
distance of your house, maybe even mapped their addresses. What you might not have known is how
someone gets to be on the sex offenders registry. Many are folks who slept with their 15-year old
girlfriends or boyfriends when they were 16 — or even when they were 14 (some states prosecute
underage sex regardless of the age of the participants). Most, though, are in fact guilty of molesting
children — almost always their own (or closely related). There are very, very few cases (less than 5%) of
children being accosted by strangers — the number of cases over the last decade is in the hundreds, out
of many thousands of child abuse cases…
The reality is that your children are fairly safe from victimization by your neighbors. Statistically
speaking, you and your family are the greatest threat your children face — far, far more dangerous
than any stranger. While it makes good sense to teach your children to be aware of themselves and their
surroundings in the company of strangers, the feverish panic that breaks out every year in the weeks
before Halloween is way out of proportion to the actual threat posed to your children…
So where does the panic come from? At least part of it has to be pinned on local news organizations and
their addiction to the scare story as a way to drive ratings… But the more important story lies in the
anxieties we as a society have fostered over the last several decades…
And along comes Halloween, and what do we do? We allow our children to go door to door among those
strangers and beg for candy. In anthropological terms, feeding someone and eating together are powerful
markers of intimacy and demonstrations of solidarity — but we aren’t intimate with our neighbors and there
is no sense of solidarity. So we worry. And one way we express those worries is by telling each other urban
legends about the dangers of strangers with candy, especially on Halloween. This may also be a defensive
strategy, allowing us to ignore the fact that the most real source of danger to our children is their own
family.
So don’t panic. Take reasonable safety precautions — make sure your kids are visible in the dark,
have them carry flashlights, teach them traffic safety principles, supervise young trick-or-treaters,
and don’t let Halloween pranks get out of hand. Don’t let these perfectly normal anxieties develop into
irrational fears that end up polluting Halloween for yourself and your children [12].”

Resources

  1. “Halloween Poisonings.” Snopes.com, October 27, 2005, http://www.snopes.
    com/horrors/poison/halloween.asp
  2. “Sex Offenders Locked Down, in the dark for Halloween.” CNN, Oct. 31, 2007, http://edition.cnn.
    com/2007/US/10/31/halloween.offenders/
  3. Tom LoBianco, “Pumpkin symbol marks sex offenders’ homes.” Washington Times, Oct. 15, 2008,
    http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/15/pumpkin-marks-sex-offenders-homes/
  4. AP, “Nearly 500 Louisiana laws take effect today.” The Daily Advertiser, August 15, 2008, http://www.
    theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080815/NEWS01/808150328/1002
  5. Michelle Sherwood, “New Law Targets Sex Offenders on Halloween.” KSPR News, Oct. 9, 2008, http:
    //www.kspr.com/news/local/30660589.html?corder=reverse
  6. “Scare tactics not just for kids on Halloween.” Grits For Breakfast, October 31, 2006, http:
    //gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2006/10/scare-tactics-not-just-for-kids-on.html
  7. Benjamin Radford, “Halloween Hysteria: Phantom Fears and Sex Offenders.” Live Science.com, Oct.
    30, 2007, http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/071030-halloween-hysteria.html
  8. John Diedrich, “No trick-or-treat for state’s sex offenders.” Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Oct. 27,
    2005, http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=366284&format=print
  9. David Giacolone, “Halloween tricks: pols vs. sex offenders.” f/k/a, October 30, 2005, http://blogs.law.
    harvard.edu/ethicalesq/2005/10/30/halloween-tricks-pols-vs-sex-offenders/
  10. “The Confusing Words and Phrases in the realm of sex offenders: with many being used in a
    libelous or slanderous manner!” News and Noteworthy (E-Advocate), 2007, http://www.geocities.
    com/eoped/def-001.html#hal
  11. Robert Patrick, “Sex offenders challenge law banning them from Halloween activities.” St. Louis Post-
    Dispatch, Oct. 8, 2008, http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.
    nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/E930958E0A4A95EE862574DC0013B442?
    OpenDocument#tp_newCommentAnchor
  12. Dustin Wax, “Don’t Panic! Stop Worrying and Enjoy Halloween.” Lifehack, Oct. 17, 2007, http://www.
    lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/dont-panic-stop-worrying-and-enjoy-halloween.html

ADDENDUM 1

There WAS a sex crime committed on Halloween 2008, though it wasn't what you think:

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/nov/07/sex-charge-worries-streaker/

Sex charge worries streaker in Boulder Pumpkin Run
By Julie Poppen, Rocky Mountain News
Published November 7, 2008

"Now that the general election's over, let's get on to more important matters: Justice for the Pumpkin 12.
Recent University of Colorado graduate Eric Rasmussen, 23, is among the 12 runners ticketed Halloween
night for indecent exposure after running naked with a wobbly orange squash on their heads along the
Pearl Street Mall in Boulder.
If convicted, he and 11 others could be required to register as sex offenders. Like many of the Pumpkin
12, he is finding a lawyer...
He and nine others go to Boulder County Court on Dec. 17; two others will appear Jan. 12...
In Boulder, the 10th annual Naked Pumpkin Run is a hot issue. The core question: Should these 12 face
punishment?"

And critics claim such petty behavior never lands people on sex offender registries...

ADDENDUM 2

I had asked the proverbial question, "If the laws prevent a non-existent threat from happening, will
legislators take credit for stopping the non-existent event from happening? Maryland says YES. So in
2007, BEFORE the law passed, there were no reports of kids molested by sex offenders. In 2008, there
were no reports of kids molested by sex offenders. What's the difference?

http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=25&sid=1513550

Halloween checks find most offenders in compliance
Frederick (MD) News-Post  November 8, 2008 - 9:38am

Teams of police officers and agents with the state Division of Parole and Probation stopped by 50
residences Halloween night to ensure that area sex offenders weren't interacting with children collecting
candy. They liked what they found -- 47 of the offenders had "no candy" signs posted. As instructed, they
weren't opening their doors. Authorities are following up with the three others they couldn't locate Oct. 31.
Those three could face sanctions, but that hasn't been determined, said George V. Kirk, field supervisor of
the Frederick field office of the Division of Parole and Probation. Some might have been working; agents
are checking the situations out...

"It makes me happy that I had no issues whatsoever," Robinson said of their five stops. "I made it very
clear what would be happening Halloween night. I reminded them we would be stopping by." The night
before Halloween, teams made preliminary visits to 57 homes. Those Robinson visited were extremely
receptive. "I think they care very much about what members of society think," she said. "They want to be
better citizens and do what they need to be doing to follow the law."

Rounding out the effort were Cpl. Greg Stocksdale and Detective Gene Alston from the Frederick Police
Department, and Detectives Michael Davies and Chris Smith from the Frederick County Sheriff's Office.
Brandy Shafer of the sheriff's office and Krissie Smith-Alvey of parole and probation provided
organizational assistance. Kirk found the initiative beneficial to the community. Having five additional police
vehicles patrolling the streets is a good thing.

"Even if we can prevent one person from being victimized, the operation is worth it," Kirk said.

http://dcist.com/2008/11/08/maryland_sex_offender_signs_deemed.php

"But as much as we want to have a joke at their expense, Maryland police credit the now notorious "No
Candy At This Residence" signs with being wildly successful, assisting them to a safe Halloween."

Yeah, right.

ADDENDUM 3

http://freestudents.blogspot.com/2008/10/we-are-all-sex-offenders-now-happy.html

A really good question is posed here:

And that pisses me off. I’ve been turning out my porch light and pretending I’m not home for years. And I’m
no sex offender, registered or otherwise. So now my problem is what do I do this year? If I turn out the
lights, and don’t answer the door, is that the same thing as advertising “sex offender here!!!!”?

One can’t ignore the damn holiday without possibly getting accused of being an offender. For years I’ve
safely ignored the holiday. Now, what will the neighbors think? Will they assume that the light is off
because a sex offender lives here? Or will they just think an old grump who doesn’t care for being
annoyed on Halloween is here? I don’t mind the old grump reputation -- I’ve earned it. But damn, that sex
offender thing upsets me.
Copyright (c) 2007-2008 Derek "The Fallen One" Logue
All rights reserved. No part of this website may be used in any way without expressed written consent of the site owner