Wayland's 2019 Halloween Sex Offender Safety Map

WAYLAND, MA — Before your kids go out trick-or-treating this Halloween, local parents may want to take an inventory of who is living in your neighborhood. There are no registered sex offenders in Wayland, but there are some in neighboring towns and cities, according to the Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry.

The people on the registry are a mix of level 2 and 3 offenders who have been convicted of crimes ranging from child rape to indecent assault. The Level 3 designation is reserved for the most severe offenders. These types of sex offenders pose a "high risk" to reoffend.

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 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.

Using this map, you can see where registered sex offenders live and work near Wayland. Each icon contains information about what crime the offender was convicted of.

Law enforcement officials and researchers caution that the registries 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.

Related Articles

• Sex Offender Advocates Object To Local Mapping Of Registered Sex Criminals
• Why Patch Publishes Sex Offender Registry Maps

If you have questions or comments about this article, you can email your local Patch editor at neal.mcnamara@patch.com.