Robert Fox
Robert Fox
Ainstain Jim, 9, often cuts across the Kaaha Street Mini Park to meet friends. His mother, Marcy Jim, hadn't worried much about his safety as her skating dynamo raced up and down the streets of their Moiliili neighborhood.
But she's reflective now after learning that unbeknown to her and most neighbors, a convicted child molester has lived among them for nearly five years.
"I'd liked to have known," said Marcy Jim, 28. "It'd be good for the families to know when that kind of person is in the neighborhood."
It's a wish that in coming months is likely to divide the people of Hawaii.
The fuse to the explosive issue already has been lit under state officials, who are wrestling with how to comply with a new federal law requiring community notification of convicted sex offenders.
The statute signed by President Clinton this year is patterned after New Jersey's Megan's Law, named after Megan Kenka, a 7-year-old who was kidnapped, raped and killed in July 1994.
Hawaii's brewing controversy centers on balancing public safety and offender rights. Opponents claim that notification would give parents a false sense of security and make it tougher to turn convicted felons into productive citizens. Supporters say the public has the right to know.
In Moiliili, the debate hit home with the arrest Sept. 30 of convicted sex offender Robert Maurice Fox, 56, on a parole violation and suspicion of sexually assaulting children. Fox was convicted in Nevada of sexually assaulting an 8-year-old Las Vegas girl in 1984 and was sentenced to life in prison.
To most, Fox was a pleasant man, helping one neighbor get into her apartment when she was locked out and another by changing a corridor light bulb so she would feel secure at night.
But Charlene Kato, 41, thought it odd when she heard the voices of children showering next door in Fox's bathroom Sept. 28.
"If we knew that he wasn't supposed to be around kids, then we'd have said something," said Kato, her 15-month-old son falling asleep on her shoulder.
"I was washing my mop and wondered whose kids are those. ...That's so sickening."
Court documents here say Fox allegedly fondled a 9-year-old girl and showed her pictures on the Internet of a naked man masturbating. The girl was among six siblings and friends ages 5 to 10 who had gone swimming at Ala Moana Beach Park, then to Fox's Kaaha Street apartment, the affidavit said.
Had he known of Fox's past, "I could have protected my family and protected him," said the girl's father. "I wouldn't have had my kids around him and not tempted him. ... I think that the public does have a right to know."
At least 32 states have implemented some form of public notification about sex offenders entering the community. However, lawsuits challenging such notification are pending in at least five states - New York, New Jersey, Alaska, Minnesota and Tennessee.
"One of the things we'll look at is what law will hold up in court," said Hawaii Attorney General Margery Bronster.
The idea of beefing up Hawaii's current law - which requires convicted sex offenders to register with local law enforcement - has been considered for some time now, she said.
"We had always felt the need to put in an additional option of public notification," Bronster said. "I think that there's general agreement on that. Now we're considering what form it will take."
Hawaii's current law limits access of sex-offender records to law enforcement only; the federal mandate says officials shall make public "relevant information" about child molesters and sexually violent offenders released from prison or placed on parole.
The state attorney general's office is gathering data from other states and will submit a proposal to legislators convening in January.
"Right now I'm optimistic we can do both: We can address the issue of public safety and do it within constitutional limits," Deputy Attorney General Kurt Spohn said.
Officials said other states have tried various means of notification: public notices through the media; publication of violator photos, names and addresses; making records accessible to the public at police departments and other agencies. States also have opted to decide on a case-by-case basis when and how much notification is needed.
Presently, Hawaii has 425 registered sex offenders, 293 of them on Oahu. By law, convicted sex offenders must register with law enforcement officials here, but that information is not disseminated to the public.
Hawaii is the only state that has since 1990 treated incarcerated sex offenders with remarkable results, said Barry Coyne, administrator for the Department of Public Safety's sex offender treatment program.
Of the 311 sex convicts released since 1988, 11 have been reconvicted of sex offenses and of those, only three had some kind of treatment, he said. By 1993, 80 percent of sex offenders released from prisons here had received some treatment, Coyne said.
"We have real concerns about Megan's Law," Coyne said.
"On the mainland one out of four (sex offenders) disappear and do not register. It says that Megan's Law gives people a false sense of security because the guy who registered is complying; the guy who doesn't register is the scary one."
Sex offenders must re-register with local authorities when they move.
Some argue that fear of being targeted in the community will cause offenders to break contact with their parole officers, therapists, police and their jobs, leading them to crime again.
"We want to embed the sex offender in his social network; we don't want to banish him," Coyne said.
Empowering neighborhoods with programs that help residents spot signs of sexual abuse is what's needed, some say.
"What would be more sensible and effective is to put programs in place that do protect the community," said Vanessa Chong, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii.
"A notification program instead creates an incentive for offenders to be on the run, to avoid treatment."
Also, "While there's some benefits of notifying the community, you can't let the community think that they can let their guard down," said Dennis Dunn, director of the Victim Witness Assistance division of the prosecutor's office.
"There's a danger of people thinking that it's a panacea."
For Moiliili residents like Kevin Guo, 40, a computer operator, the issue has taken on new meaning with Fox's arrest last week.
"It's not a guarantee that it protects people," Guo said of the imminent localizing of Megan's Law. "It needs to be more than that. That's not a cure-all. (But) maybe it's a measure worth taking."
A look at where the state's 425 registered sex offenders live:
Hawaii sex offenders
Oahu: 293
Source: State attorney general's office