New Reason For Fear On Halloween

It used to be that parents' main concern was making sure the candy their kids gathered was safe.

Now, reports Randall Pinkston, more attention is being paid to making sure trick-or-treating youngsters don't fall into the hands of sexual predators.

He says schools are providing options such as Halloween parties that are safer than trick-or-treating.

At Jefferson Elementary School in Plainfield, N.J., Halloween bags include basic safety tips on what parents should do to protect their kids from sex offenders.

Many parents, such as Lina Restivo, are spooked by the threat of harm to their children.

"That particular day is a day for predators to be attractive to children, for them to come into their homes," she says. "So that is a good day to keep predators out."

Fellow Plainfield parent agree. One tells Pinkston: "It's good that they're taking measures to make sure that the kids are safe."

Local governments around the country are taking special steps this Halloween to keep predators away from youngsters, Pinkston says.

In New Jersey, for instance, 2,200 registered sex offenders are being told not to answer the door if children come trick or treating.

"You have to be proactive, there's no question about it," says acting Gov. Richard Cody. "These are people, in most cases, who are very sick and very diseased and cannot reform themselves."

Westchester County, N.Y., and Parker County, Texas, and Illinois, Virginia and New Jersey are among jurisdictions that have enforced curfews or mandatory meetings for registered sex offenders during Halloween, with penalties for violators, Pinkston says.

But an attorney who represents sex offenders says the moves are useless, because most predators don't attack strangers.

"They are knee-jerk reactions by politicians currying favor with a frightened electorate," John Furlong says.

Laura Ahearn, president of Parents for Megan's Law, disagrees.

"We have about 551,000 registered sex offenders across our nation," she told co-anchor Hannah Storm on The Early Show Friday. "Parents traditionally had to worry about children binging on candy. Now we have to worry about sexual predators actually answering doors.

"I think it's the government's responsibility to take a comprehensive approach to try to prevent sexual victimization of children, including allocating resources to assure that every initiative is implemented to try to protect the most vulnerable."

Ahearn does say Furlong is "absolutely on target when he says most sexual abuse doesn't happen with strangers. In fact, 90 percent of child sexual abuse happens with somebody a child has an established and trusting relationship with.

"But that very first contact is so crucial. Can you imagine this, a sexual predator who has a history of targeting children, sexually victimizing children in his past, answering a door and handing candy for the first time to a child?

"That's the very beginning of a process, the very first step a predator takes to establish a relationship ultimately to sexually victimize a child. So that very first contact is very important. It's the beginning for a sexual predator."

What can parents do to make sure your kids stay safe this Halloween?

Aside from checking your local laws to see what the rules are for sex offenders in your neighborhood, there are some simple ways to be extra vigilant, Ahearn says.

"The first thing is check their state resources for sex offender registries," she says. "They can go to parentsformeganslaw.com and link on to every registry that exists in the nation.

"First, check the registry and make sure you're not going to a house where a sexual predator is residing. Secondly, of course, don't allow your children to go trick-or-treating alone. If you have teens, make sure they're going in groups.

"And urge the importance to your child never, ever to go into a home of somebody that they don't know and even somebody they do know, without somebody else present. And be sure to avoid dimly lit homes. That's where danger lurks."

And what should children be told to do if someone approaches them in a way that makes them uncomfortable or actually tries to touch them?

"If somebody tries to forcibly move a child into a situation where they're uncomfortable, or tries to grab them," she says, "they should kick, scream, punch, do everything possible and get away.

"Especially on Halloween, there's going to be a lot of cars lurking about because parents are dropping off their kids. And you may not be aware that one car may have a sexual predator in it. So avoid cars, and especially cars that have people in it that the child doesn't know."