ACLU challenges sex-offender residency law

PITTSBURGH, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- A civil rights group is suing the western Pennsylvania county that includes Pittsburgh, claiming a new law keeps sex offenders from living almost anywhere.

The American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit was filed Monday in federal court in Pittsburgh on behalf of six convicted sex offenders, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. The complaint describes the Allegheny County ordinance as overly broad and says it actually interferes with the goal of sex-offender registration laws.

The county council adopted the law unanimously in October 2007. It bans convicted sex offenders from living within 2,500 feet of schools, daycare centers, parks, playgrounds and other places where children congregate.

The law does not define sex offender, referring instead to the definition in the Pennsylvania registration law. Allegheny County has, so far, failed to release a map that would detail where sex offenders can live.

"Sex-offender residency laws are political placebos that offer the public a false sense of safety, while in reality they interfere with

Megan's Laws and undermine more effective individualized efforts to prevent future crimes," said Witold Walczak, the ACLU's state legal director.