Oak Forest 2018 Halloween Sex Offender Safety Map

OAK FOREST, IL — Before kids go out trick or treating on Halloween, fall is a good time to take an inventory of who is living in your neighborhood.

This map includes 15 registered sex offenders in Oak Forest. It does not include an offender who is noncompliant with the Illinois Sex Offender Registry and two offenders who are incarcerated.

Pins on the map represent the addresses of offenders convicted of sex crimes. Click on the pins for more information, including the offender's name, address, date of birth, convictions, and the age of the offender and victim at the time of the offense.

Registered sex offenders are prohibited from passing out candy on Halloween. They may not appear in a Halloween costume or other child-centered holiday character, such as Santa and the Easter Bunny, in public. Registered sex offenders, however, may wear a Halloween costume in their home, according to the Illinois Sex Offender Registry.

You might want to avoid trick or treating at these houses and apartments on Halloween, or merely be aware of who's living in your neighborhood during the rest of the year.

Law enforcement officials and researchers caution that the registries can play only a limited role in preventing child sexual abuse and stress that most perpetrators are known to the child. The U.S. Department of Justice, which oversees the National Sex Offender Public Website, estimates that only about 10 percent of perpetrators of child sexual abuse are strangers to the child.

The Justice Department estimates 60 percent of perpetrators are known to the child but are not family members but rather family friends, babysitters, child care providers and others, and 30 percent of child victims are abused by family members. Nearly a quarter of the abusers are under the age of 18, the department estimates.

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