Mayor Tries To Oust Sex Offenders

Miami Beach's mayor is pushing new legislation that would essentially force sex offenders to move out of the city.

The ordinance requires sex offenders to live 2,500 feet away from schools, parks, and other places where children gather. Miami Beach is 7 1/2 miles long and has 15 schools and 38 parks.

"You have an extraordinarily high recidivism rate where those folks are likely to strike again," Mayor David Dermer tells The Early Show co-anchor Rene Syler. "Also, there is a stalking nature to this crime, as well as the fact that there is evidence to suggest that the perpetrators live very close to where the potential victims are.

"You're not going to be able to cure these people," he adds, calling them "ticking time bombs."

According to a government report, 3.3 percent of child molesters released in 1994 were rearrested for another sex crime against a child within three years.

Dermer expects the ordinance to be passed on May 18. When it takes effect ten days later, the city's 36 sex offenders, including six registered sexual predators, could face up to 60 days in jail.

No new offenders would be able to move into the city, he says, and police will have "another tool to be able to target the ones that are really the hard-core ones that are likely to strike again."

Last week, the Florida legislature passed a bill that would strengthen punishments for sex offenders.

Gov. Jeb Bush is expected to sign the Jessica Lunsford Act, named for the young girl who was abducted, raped and killed in February.

The bill would set a mandatory sentence of 25 years to life in prison for people convicted of molesting children under 12. If offenders serve less than life, they would be required to wear a global positioning system device after their release so authorities could monitor their whereabouts.

Also last week, in Ocala, Fla., a convicted sex offender apparently committed suicide in despair over signs posted in his neighborhood calling him a "child rapist."