The law requires offenders who wear the Global Positioning System bracelets to pay for the monitoring. At $11 a day, tracking will cost more than $4,000 a year.
"This may sound kind of cruel, but I'm more concerned about protecting children than I am about the rights of convicted criminals," said Sen. Charles Wyrick, D-Fairland, one of the authors of Senate Bill 631.
Some are worried that the monitoring won't stop sex offenders and that the cost could cause them to commit more crimes.
Oklahoma is the second state to enact the law, named "Jessica Lunsford's Law" in recognition of a Florida girl who was molested and murdered this year. The suspect is a convicted sex offender.
Florida has a similar law and several other states legislatures are considering it, according to Pro Tech, the company hired to track Florida's sex offenders.
Wyrick hopes recidivism will drop if aggravated and habitual sex offenders know they constantly are being watched. Those offenders already are required to register their home address with law enforcement for life.
He cited success in Florida.
Fewer than 1 percent of sex offenders tracked by GPS re-offend within two years of release, according to the Florida Corrections Department.
In Oklahoma, about one in five sex offenders re-offends, according to the Corrections Department.
Oklahoma's new law applies to crimes committed after it was signed May 17.
Not everyone is convinced the tracking system will work.
Holly Chandler, a therapist who treats sex offenders on probation or parole, said it does no good to make sure offenders are home because most of them commit their crimes at home.
"It will knock down some of the panic people have, but I don't want them to feel like this is going to stop them from re-offending. It's not," Chandler said. "It's the treatment that's going to make them stop re-offending."
But the monitoring is ideal for ensuring sex offenders are living at their registered addresses, Chandler said.
Senate Bill 631 requires former inmates to pay for their own tracking. But those people likely will not be able to afford their monitoring costs, Chandler said
About half of the men and women in Chandler's group therapy sessions earn less than $750 a month.
Most sex offenders commit crimes when they are stressed, angry, under the influence of drugs or alcohol or a combination of those factors, Chandler said, and a $330 bill for monitoring probably will compound an offender's stress.
While offenders still are under Corrections Department supervision, taxpayers will pay for those who can't, said Justin Jones, deputy director of community corrections.
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Information from: The Oklahoman, http://www.oklahoman.com
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