Broward Palm Beach News Blog

This Halloween, it's lights out for sex offenders

​Sex offenders in Florida are off the hook this year: They won't have to spend a fortune at Target on plastic pumpkins, corn-sheaves, and fake spiderwebs. They can keep all the Reese's Pieces for themselves. The Florida Department of Corrections says that for registered sex offenders -- at least the ones that actually have a place to live -- it's nix on Halloween this year. From today's Miami Herald:

In the hopes of curbing child predators this Halloween, the state's Department of Corrections is sending registered sex offenders written notices that the Oct. 31 celebration is off for them. That means no decorations, no outside lights on and certainly no candy and costumes. "Most sex offenders are opportunists," Donald Monroe, with Palm Beach County's DOC, told the Sun-Sentinel. "It only takes a second to molest these kids."

Of course, it's hard to imagine, say, Miami's sex offenders decorating the pilings underneath their bridges with orange lights and handing out candy corn. Most sex offenders these days are more worried about where they're going to sleep on October 31st than whether they should buy the pirate costume or the Count Dracula.