An Iowa law requiring child sex offenders to live more than 2,000 feet away from schools and daycares has come under fire recently, as critics maintain such laws make monitoring offenders difficult.

And according to a March 15 New York Times article, 26 of the state's sex offenders have been all but forced to move into a motel in rural Iowa to comply with the law.

While it is conceivable that state legislatures are enacting such laws to protect children, Iowa's law seems to be having adverse effects.

Officials in Iowa's Linn County said that before the passage of the residency law in September, they knew where 90 percent of the county's sex offenders were living. Today, however, the location of only about 50 percent of the sex offenders is known.

And as each town attempts to increase its restrictions, residences within 2,000 feet of places such as parks, swimming pools, libraries and bus stops have become off limits for offenders.

But even if convicted sex offenders are forced to live a certain distance away from a school or daycare, is there any way to ensure these individuals do not come any closer to children when going about their daily lives?

Residency laws only go as far as dictating where an offender can live, but completing simple tasks such shopping for groceries and clothes would undoubtedly result in offenders coming within 2,000 feet of children.

Rather than attempting to control these offenders once they are released from prison, the crimes of which they are convicted of committing should carry longer, harsher sentences. A person forced to register as a sex offender after being released from prison is a lot more likely to relapse than a person forced to spend the rest of his or her life in prison or a rehabilitation facility.

Pennsylvania has not yet passed any residency restrictions, but it still would be beneficial for the commonwealth to enact tougher sentences on child sex offenders.

Ultimately such residency laws are the result of legislatures trying to pick up the slack of a flawed judicial system. Instead of trying and eventually failing to monitor all of society's sex offenders, the focus should be on ensuring these criminals do not return to the streets.