Families across Georgia deserve confidence that our laws adequately protect children in the places they gather every day—not only at schools and parks, but also at school bus stops and along the routes children walk to and from school.

In our neighborhood, a registered sexually dangerous predator now resides approximately 100 feet from a school bus stop where children regularly congregate each morning and afternoon. Children also walk past the residence daily on their way to and from school. While this residence reportedly complies with current Georgia residency laws, the situation has highlighted what many parents believe is a significant gap in our state’s child safety protections.

Georgia’s residency restrictions primarily focus on maintaining minimum distances from schools, childcare facilities, churches, parks, and other specified locations. However, these laws do not adequately address many school bus stops, where children routinely gather without direct adult supervision, or common walking routes that children use to travel to and from school.

Additionally, the current residency restrictions do not sufficiently distinguish between offenders based on professionally assessed risk. A one-size-fits-all approach may fail to provide enhanced protections where they are most needed while also imposing identical restrictions regardless of an offender’s risk level.

Research has suggested that residency restrictions alone are not the most effective tool for reducing recidivism. More effective public safety strategies combine evidence-based supervision, individualized risk assessment, targeted monitoring, and appropriate community notification for higher-risk offenders.

We respectfully request that the Georgia General Assembly undertake a comprehensive review of Georgia’s sex offender residency laws and consider legislation that would:

• Reevaluate residency restrictions for offenders designated as Sexually Dangerous Predators and other high-risk classifications.
• Examine whether minimum distance requirements should also apply to designated school bus stops and other locations where children routinely gather before and after school.
• Consider protections for established student walking routes where children regularly travel to and from school.
• Base residency restrictions and supervision requirements on validated professional risk assessments so that higher-risk offenders are subject to stronger safeguards.
• Strengthen community notification and public awareness measures consistent with Georgia law while respecting constitutional protections.

Our goal is not to create laws that are merely punitive, but laws that are effective, evidence-based, and focused on protecting children where they are most vulnerable.

Parents should not have to wonder whether a routine school bus stop or neighborhood walking route falls outside the protections intended by our laws.

We respectfully urge our state legislators to review these issues, work with law enforcement, victim advocates, child safety experts, and community stakeholders, and modernize Georgia’s residency laws to better reflect the realities of where children gather today.

Please sign this petition if you support a comprehensive review and modernization of Georgia’s sex offender residency laws to better protect Georgia’s children.