8 Sex Offenders In Gig Harbor: 2020 Safety Map

GIG HARBOR, WA — Gig Harbor has 8 registered sex offenders living in city limits, according to the Washington sex offender registry.

All 8 registered sex offenders have known addresses in Gig Harbor, none are considered to be non-compliant with sex registry laws, according to state police.

Below you will find a map showing where all sex offenders are registered as living in Gig Harbor. Pins on the map represent addresses of offenders convicted of sex crimes, but it should also be noted that not all offenders in this map were convicted of crimes involving children. Roll your cursor over the pins, and you will see more information pop up, including the registered sex offender's name, address, date of birth and convictions.

Note: The Washington sex offender registry does not provide exact addresses for sex offenders, just block numbers.

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."

Related

• NARSOL Objects To Local Mapping Of Registered Sex Offenders
• Why Patch Publishes Sex Offender Registry Maps