You can’t blame them.

A bill sponsored by state Sen. John Bonacic would force the most dangerous, Level 3 offenders to wear electronic devices linked to satellites so their movements can be pinpointed to within a few yards.

In Binghamton, convicted sex offenders would be barred from being within a quarter-mile of schools, day-care centers, playgrounds and parks under a bill that may be signed this week.

Most states’ Megan’s laws have focused on community notification and knowledge as a means of keeping the threat of repeat offenders at bay. Websites identify convicted sex offenders, schools are notified when they move into the district and police don’t hesitate to say where the offenders are living.

Apparently that’s not enough to keep some sex criminals from slipping away from parole officers and committing their heinous acts, or worse, all over again.

So why are we contriving all these new methods for keeping track of sex offenders when the only sure way to keep them away from potential victims and keep communities safe is to not let them out of jail in the first place?

New York state has about 21,000 registered sex offenders, nearly double the number five years ago, according to the state Division of Criminal Justice Services. There are 5,276 Level 3 offenders statewide, including 11 in Otsego County, 17 in Delaware, 42 in Chenango and 13 in Schoharie County.

With a recidivism rate of 20 percent for sex offenders, 4,200 of those 21,000 are likely to repeat their crimes. It’s good that we have identified 1,000 more than the going rate as Level 3 or likely repeat offenders. Of course, the 21,000 figure was already narrowed to only those risky enough to require registration.

We’ve had 10 years to change our sentencing laws so that convicts deemed Level 3 just don’t get out of jail. Instead, only after continuing incidents of child rapes and murders, now we’re talking about electronic bracelets and playground bans.

That’s about all we can do with those already sentenced and released. But we can start a drive now toward dishing out much tougher sentences to these violent and disturbed criminals.

I received a letter recently from an Otsego County jail inmate who complained because another inmate just got a 60-day sentence for raping a child, while the writer has to serve time in state prison for grand larceny.

"I cannot describe to you the intense anger I feel," the inmate wrote. "I have a young sister and nieces who if ever were raped or harmed by any of these offenders, I don’t know what I would do."

He continued: "It’s been proven that sex offenders are highly likely to violate again. They are not respected members of the community. Nor do they deserve decency or respect."

The inmate believes that since the victims of his theft are left with no long-term emotional scars, he should have a lighter sentence than the child rapist.

So, should we go along with the New Mexico sheriff, Darren White, who said, "we’re going to have make a decision as a society to recognize the recidivism rate of sex offenders and that the first time they commit these crimes they have to be put away for life. It’s the only way to stop them."

Unfortunately, our prisons are already overcrowded. If we were to start locking up child sex abusers for more lengthy prison terms, then we need to adjust the sentences handed out to non-violent criminals. Our drug laws need more reform so we don’t have sex maniacs walking the streets and marijuana dealers behind bars.

It seems like we always like to try the legislate and regulate method rather than being serious about some of more deadly problems. It can be foreseen that someday we’ll have sex offenders walking around with tracking chips implanted in their brains and letters tattooed on their foreheads — but the most disturbed will still find a way to perpetrate their crimes on the young and innocent.

The other extremes may deserve a look. On the one hand, some insist that chemical castration would be both just and prevent recurrence. But can we bring ourselves to carry it out?

On the other hand, a new program in Delaware County has set up a half-way house so offenders can receive counseling and housing assistance after being released from prison. In other words, don’t keep them incarcerated, but try to cure them before they go back into the community.

All it would take, however, is one high-profile slip-up by one these rehabbers and the backlash would begin again.

Let’s lengthen the prison sentences, scrap early release and keep them locked up.

———

Cary Brunswick is managing editor of The Daily Star. He can be reached at (607) 432-1000, ext. 217, or cary@thedailystar.com.