Sex Offender Houses To Avoid Trick or Treating In Lawton, Oklahoma

I know every generation probably says it, but it tends to be a simple truth. Things are not like they used to be.

When I was a kid, my parents would dress us up and turn us loose in the neighborhood. My two-years older sister was usually charged with watching over me, and we usually had a good time trick-or-treating for a couple of hours each year.

Little to no parental supervision by the fourth grade was normal in our community and it was grand. Made us all feel like teens or adults going around asking for free candy... but that's not something that happens in most communities today.

Once again, the internet has made the world smaller and connected everyone to limitless information. Particularly, an interactive map of registered sex offenders in every community in America, but is that fair?

I'm not defending the worst of society, but as my editor and I were talking about this, it just feels a little grimy to talk about it. After all, while all sex offenders have the registration in common, not all sex offenders committed heinous acts of trauma.

In Oklahoma, you can be charged and labeled a sex offender for peeing off your boat while fishing, but that's not what we all imagine when we see those two words strung together. I think most people automatically envision the worst-case scenario without knowing the truth.

Even worse, the tools that were created to inform Oklahomans about their registered neighbors are shockingly vague. You'll learn who is a sex offender, but not always the offense in which they've committed to earn that designation... but my editor insists I write it anyway.

In many states across the country, there are laws against registered sex offenders handing out candy for Halloween, but Oklahoma isn't one of those states. As long as they stay on their own property, it's legal.

Instead of getting into the details, I'd rather leave you with this. I don't have kids in that trick-or-treating age range, but if you'd like to dig for your own piece of mind, here are a few maps of registered offenders in the Lawton community.

Lawton as a whole:

If you'd like to explore each neighborhood, the map is interactive over at City-Data.com.