A Witch Hunt for Sex Offenders

As Bloggers Douglas Berman, and Norm Patis (at Crime and Federalism) have noted, numerous states have been passing laws trying to ban sex offenders from participating in Halloween. Mr. Patis correctly notes that this ban is ironic because State Legislatures around the country have very much treated accused sex offenders very similarly to the way that alleged witches were treated in Salem. As detailed in articles from New York and Tennessee and Texas everyone is trying to keep sex offenders from participating in the holiday. This form of ineffectual legislation serves no useful purpose and is a classic game of one upmanship.