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Sex Offenders In Your Neighborhood

By Amy E. Feldman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - There's some important information you should know before your kids go out trick or treating.

Everyone knows to teach kids not to take candy from strangers. Except on Halloween when parents buy costumes for their kids to go to strangers houses to beg for candy. But you'd know if there were a sex offender living in your neighborhood, wouldn't you?

Not necessarily.

While most states have Megans Laws that requires disclosure on a website and by phone of registered sex offenders, almost none mandate that a person selling a home that is in the neighborhood of a registered sex offender disclose that to potential buyers so you may have bought a home in a sex offender's neighborhood without knowing it. And while some state parole boards require notification to neighbors if a sex offender is moving in, not all do.

Your best bet is to type your state and the words sex offender registry into a search engine to see the locations of people who have registered and to teach kids every day not to take candy from anyone that they don't know.

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