Sexual offenders: No easy answers Therapists warn against hysteria while officials worry about safety

While some people have reacted with outrage that a few high-profile pedophiles have been released to live in their communities, there are nearly 7,000 sex offenders on probation in Massachusetts, living in virtually every city and town.

But those who treat sex offenders and statistics kept by the state suggest that the vast majority of children who are molested are abused by someone in their own household. Therapists, meanwhile, say the hysteria, shunning and harassment of former sex offenders is counterproductive, creating conditions that make it more likely offenders will repeat…