Sex Offenders Living with Minors, Part I

Every now and then I get a call—usually from a concerned citizen or a prosecutor—asking whether it’s okay for a sex offender to be living in the same residence as a minor. This post summarizes the restrictions on living with minors applicable to registered offenders who are still under supervision by the Department of Correction. In a subsequent post I’ll discuss the restrictions (or, as turns out to be the case, the lack of restrictions) on registered offenders generally. Offenders under supervision for a conviction that requires registration or that involved the physical, mental, or sexual abuse of a minor must be subject to certain special conditions of probation under G.S. 15A-1343(b2) or post-release supervision under G.S. 15A-1368.4(b1). The substance of the mandatory conditions is the same for both types of supervisees. First, those convicted of offenses for which there was evidence of the sexual abuse of a minor may not reside in a household with any minor child. G.S. 15A-1343(b2)(4), -1368.4(b1)(4). Second, those convicted of offenses for which there was evidence of physical or mental abuse of a minor may only reside in a household a minor child if the court expressly finds that it is “unlikely that the defendant’s harmful or abusive conduct will recur and that it would be in the minor child’s best interest to allow the probationer to reside in the same household.” G.S. 15A-1343(b2)(5), -1368.4(b1)(5). Recall that the period of post release supervision for an offender convicted of a reportable Class B1 through E felony [...]