Round Rock Registered Sex Offender Listing: 2019

ROUND ROCK, TX — A good safeguard to take before taking the kids out trick-or-treating on Halloween is to take inventory of who's living in your neighborhood.

To that end, Patch has mapped out locations where registered sex offenders live. According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, there are at about a dozen such individuals living in Round Rock.

By law, registered sex offenders are prohibited from passing out candy on Halloween. Moreover, these individuals may not appear in pubic dressed in a Halloween costume or other child-centered holiday character, such as Santa and the Easter Bunny.

In an abundance of caution, you may want to avoid trick or treating at these houses and apartments on Halloween. Beyond that, it's always wise to be aware of who's living in your neighborhood throughout the year.

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 not strangers to the child.

Related Articles:

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

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. Additionally, 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. As always, contact police if you see any suspicious activity.