The concentration of convicted sex offenders living in the mobile home park where Aliahna Lemmon was brutally murdered is an unintended consequence of laws prohibiting the offenders from living within 1,000 feet of many buildings serving children.

In a well-meaning effort to protect children, Indiana lawmakers have sought to reduce the likelihood offenders could live near places that attract children. So state laws forbid convicted sex offenders to live within 1,000 feet – a little more than two city blocks – from a school, a park, a youth center or a child care center.

While that doesn’t sound like a great distance, consider the number of schools and parks in and close to the city. The city has nearly 90 parks and related facilities. And the Rivergreenway is a linear park that traverses much of the city.

The result is that significant parts of the city and the surrounding area are simply off-limits for sex offenders to live.

Practical limitations further restrict areas where sex offenders can reside. Many return to the community from prison and are in no position to buy a house or pay high rents. So places outside the 1,000-foot restrictions that offer lower rents and shorter leases naturally attract sex offenders.

And the areas can change, sometimes forcing sex offenders out of their homes. A church, for example, may rent a space in a former office building, establishing a new 1,000-foot perimeter. Or someone could start a new licensed child care center.

For years, officials in the local criminal justice system have been concerned that the limited number of places could become “sex offender ghettos.”

Yet officials are largely at a loss regarding how to preserve the distance protection while diminishing high concentrations of sex offenders in certain places.

State Sen. Thomas Wyss, whose district includes the trailer park where Aliahna was slain, said there are no simple answers.

“I want them (sex offenders) to be far enough away from kids so the kids are protected,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that it (the law) creates small pockets. … I don’t like the fact they congregate like that.”

Sheriff Ken Fries agrees, though he isn’t sure that 1,000 feet “is the magic distance.”

“You need to set some type of parameter,” Fries said. “I wish there was an easy answer. I don’t think there is.”

Allen County Sheriff’s Department Detective Jeff Shimkus, one of two officers who oversee the county’s sex offender registry, believes one alternative would be to lift the 1,000-foot rule but establish stronger penalties if an offense occurs within 1,000 feet of a school, park or youth center. The most important element, he notes, is to know where the sex offenders live.

State Rep. Phyllis Pond, who also represents the area where Aliahna was killed, wonders whether child molesters should serve longer prison terms. If they are in prison, they won’t be living anywhere in the community.

Some lawmakers are already talking about the possibility of an “Aliahna’s Law” if revelations from her slaying point out weaknesses in existing law. They should be cautious to examine all the consequences of such a law.

And it’s important to remember that no law will perfectly protect children.

As Fries observes, “It still comes down to parents being parents. Know where your kids are, know who they’re with.”