FARGO – Turn off the porch light, don't put up spooky decorations and don't answer the door for trick-or-treaters.

That's what North Dakota and Minnesota officials are telling sex offenders this Halloween, so they aren't tempted to re-offend.

"Across the state, the message that sex offenders are getting from the probation officers who supervise them is that they need to be concerned about risky situations," said Barb Breiland, manager of North Dakota's sex offender program.

The message given to offenders in Minnesota is similar, according to the state Department of Corrections. "In addition to already stringent supervision conditions, sex offenders are instructed they are not to take part in Halloween activities," department spokeswoman Sarah Latuseck said in an email.

Breiland said in the past, she's heard of North Dakota offenders, who met in treatment groups, going out to dinner together on Halloween, so they aren't home when kids come knocking.

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"It's a good idea. Because then they're out, they're together, they're safe, and the community's safer," she said. "They're able to also support one another that way."

Breiland acknowledged that parents may have concerns about offenders on Halloween, but she cited research that shows there were no significant increases in sex crimes on or around Halloween from 1997 through 2005.

She also noted that children are much more likely to be sexually abused by someone they know. Just 7 percent of offenders who sexually abused juveniles were strangers to their victims, according to a Bureau of Justice Statistics report.

Breiland said most offenders on supervised probation are restricted from having contact with minors. But offenders who aren't on probation don't have such restrictions, she said.

Several states have laws pertaining to Halloween and sex offenders, including requirements that they post signs outside their homes discouraging trick-or-treaters. North Dakota and Minnesota have no such laws.