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Bill would ban sex offenders from shelters

BOSTON, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Homeless advocates in Massachusetts are pushing to ban dangerous sex offenders from shelters.

A measure sponsored by Sen. James Timilty would apply to sex offenders classified as Level 3, which means officials believe they are likely to commit sex crimes again, The Boston Globe reported.

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Backers say the change would make shelters safer and cheaper to run while closing a loophole in the state sex offender registration laws. Some released offenders are said to give shelters as their addresses while actually living somewhere else.

In many communities, released offenders are blocked from living close to schools, libraries, daycare centers, nursing homes and parks. The Globe said it reviewed the registry Tuesday and discovered 162 Level 3 offenders listing Boston addresses, 74 percent of them homeless shelters.

"There are some really bad people, and we have to provide protections against them,'' Timilty, a Democrat who co-chairs the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security, told the Globe. "I think we have a superseding need to protect the public. I would suggest it's not fair to the families who are recently homeless to have them living next to sex offenders.''

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