Community Corner

Martha's Vineyard 2019 Sex Offender Safety Map

Find out if sexual offenders or predators live in your neighborhood before trick-or-treating with the kids.

MARTHA'S VINEYARD, MA — 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. Martha's Vineyard has four registered sex offenders living or working on the island, according to the Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry.

Two of those listed are Level 3 sex offenders, and two are Level 2.

The Level 3 designation is reserved for the most severe offenders, according to the state's Sex Offender Registry Board. These types of sex offenders pose a "high risk" to re-offend.

Find out what's happening in Martha's Vineyardfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Level 2 sex offenders have a moderate risk of re-offending and pose a moderate degree of danger to the public. The public can access information about Level 2 offenders who were classified after July 12, 2013. This information is available through local police departments and through the online registry.
The offenders are not wanted by police, and it's illegal to use the following information to commit a crime or engage in any discrimination or harassment against an offender.

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.

Find out what's happening in Martha's Vineyardfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

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.

Click on the icons for names and information on Martha's Vineyard sex offenders. One of the registered Level 2 offenders — Scott Ernest Fielding, 27, who was convicted of two counts of open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior — cannot be mapped because he is listed as being homeless in Tisbury.


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