Homeless Georgia Sex Offenders Ordered Into, Then Out of the Woods

Several convicted sex offenders in Georgia, home to some of the toughest laws in the country, were told by their probation officers to take up camp in a woods because all but one of the state's homeless shelters don't meet state requirements to be 1,000 feet from any place where children may gather.

One of the offenders, 34-year-old William Hawkins, is on the sex offender for an offense committed against a 12-year-old when he was 15 (the crime was "sexual battery," though it isn't clear if the sex was coerced). 

After the A.P. broke the story of the enclave in the woods over the weekend, the offenders were told yesterday to pack up and move again, though it isn't exactly clear where they'll go. They can also be re-arrested for failing to notify state authorities of their new residence after moving. Not having a residence to report apparently isn't an excuse.

If they're permitted to cross state lines, I wrote last year about a bridge in Florida they could live under.