No one can deny we have a problem with sex offenders and what to do with them. Two recent cases of repeat sex offenders attacking children have shocked local communities. We now have a state law that bans convicted sex offenders from within 2,000 feet of schools, child-care facilities, along with some cities adopting ordinances banning offenders from living near parks and libraries.

But we are going about the problem wrong. We need to address how we are treating these – now sub-standard – citizens. Instead of rehabilitating them, the state spends millions of dollars convicting and incarcerating sex offenders with few safeguards against repeat offenses.

The need for a mechanism of protection is clear. We know protecting our children is protecting our future, but we also should consider the long-term value of how we go about protecting our citizens.

Sexual predators should be removed from society, but we must ask ourselves; what do we gain by warehousing them, only to release them back into the public? Placing them into maximum security mental health facilities is a possible solution, and it is one many Iowans should consider.

Banishing felons who already served their time from the centers of town is possibly a violation of their Constitutional rights. Most Iowa towns are centered around major businesses and schools, so limiting where sex offenders can live effectively removes them from most towns. Many readers might cheer this result, but these felons have already served their time, and moving them someplace else is no guarantee they will not strike again. It is possible, removed from society, these offenders may have no choice but to resort to crime and imprisonment. This puts an added burden on our swelling corrections system.

Just imprisoning offenders is expensive. If we are going to spend the money to incarcerate these criminals, we should instead spend that money to rehabilitate the ones who clearly have mental illnesses. The motivations for a sexual predator to commit a crime are fundamentally different than the motivations for a mentally healthy person to, say, rob a liquor store.

Removing sexual predators into facilities and institutions aimed at treating their mental illness would have more tangible results than the current “catch and release” system. Sexually deviant criminals will have a better chance at rehabilitation in such centers through treatment, medication and supervision. Rather than being a “soft” solution, mental treatment targets the cause of the criminal behavior itself while still physically removing those deviants from the public sphere, where they can continue to do harm.

We shouldn’t just try to brush these people under the rug and wish the problem away.