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Is Sex Offender Monitoring Working?

As details concerning the kidnapping and 18-year imprisonment of Jaycee Lee Dugard continue to emerge, some are questioning whether the system designed to monitor convicted sex offenders is working.

Congress has yet to provide the money for a 2006 law, signed by former President George W. Bush, that may improve the system, reported CBS News correspondent Bianca Solorzano on "The Early Show" Wednesday.

John Walsh, host of "America's Most Wanted," said this law, named the Adam Walsh Act after his murdered son, still isn't funded.

Mark Lunsford, whose daughter Jessica Lunsford was raped and killed in 2005 by convicted sex offender John Coey,told CBS News, "It makes me angry because we already know these problems exist. We've created laws, but we don't enforce them, we don't fund them."

Lunsford said it's going to take more than a sex offender registry to solve the problem.

"The sex offender registry ain't going to keep your kids safe," he said.

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Solorzano checked the National Sex Offender Registry Web site, and found 100 offenders are living within five miles of her childhood Miami home.

What about your home? If you would like to check your area, go to that site and enter your address.

Nationally, Solorzano reported, there are more than 600,000 sex offenders. Some believe that a problem that big demands a tougher approach.

And according to the group Family Watchdog, which tracks sex offenders by state, the typical sex predator will assault 117 times before being caught.

CBS News legal analyst Lisa Bloom said there needs to be a higher standard of monitoring and scrutiny on sex offenders as the country goes forward following Dugard's ordeal.

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Bloom added that should include more sharing of information. She cited reports that the police officer who checked the Garrido home following a report from a neighbor didn't know what Phillip Garrido was convicted of and the particulars of his past crimes, especially the concealed rape room set-up in the 1976 rape of Katherine Callaway Hall.

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"He may have been more careful in scrutinizing his home," Bloom said.

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She added that sharing information, in addition to using the registry and funding the Adam Walsh Act are all important ways to ensure children are protected.

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