Halloween Safety In Malvern Means Using Information

MALVERN, PA — Trick-or-treating and other Halloween traditions are looking different this year, yet their 2020 version may include some forms of interaction with your neighbors.

If these very welcome social activities involve meetings with unknown residents, it may be helpful to have information about who is living in your municipality.

The Pennsylvania State Police Megan's Law registry shows five registered sex offenders living in the Malvern area. The map below shows pins where registered sex offenders live; not all on the State Police registry list a residential address. You can search for details on these individuals, including photos, here.

Law enforcement officials and researchers caution that the registries play 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.

The Association for the Treatment of Sex Abusers, a nonprofit organization for clinicians, researchers, educators, law enforcement and court officials involved in sexual abuse cases, cautions that children do not face a heightened risk during the Halloween season: "There is no change in the rate of sexual crimes by non-family members during Halloween. That was true both before and after communities enacted laws to restrict the activities of registrants during Halloween. The crimes that do increase around Halloween are vandalism and property destruction, as well as theft, assault, and burglary."

For an explanation of why Patch publishes these maps, read this story.

VERN, PA —