July 30 (Bloomberg) -- A convicted child sex offender can be banned from city parks because he thought about having sexual contact with children, a U.S. appeals court ruled.

The sex offender told his psychologist and self-help group that he had fantasies about children he observed playing at a Lafayette, Indiana, city park in 2000. After his former probation officer was alerted, Lafayette officials banned the man from entering any city park, including the zoo and a golf course.

The man, identified in court proceedings as John Doe, sued, and U.S. District Judge Allen Sharp ruled in favor of the city. A three-member panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Sharp's decision 2-1, finding Doe cannot be punished for what he thinks. The full 7th Circuit in Chicago affirmed the suit's dismissal in an 8-3 decision.

``The inescapable reality is that Mr. Doe did not simply entertain thoughts; he brought himself to the brink of committing sexual molestation,'' Circuit Judge Kenneth F. Ripple wrote.

Ripple, who wrote the dissent for the earlier panel decision, said Doe was not being punished for ``pure thought'' since he admitted he had gone to the park to look for children. He said that one reason he limited himself to thoughts was that there was a group of children, which would create difficulties.

``What if there were only one child there that evening?'' Ripple asked.

Government Control

Writing for the dissent, Circuit Judge Ann C. Williams said that the First Amendment prohibits government control over a citizen's thoughts.

``Courts would not sanction criminal punishment of an individual with a criminal history of bank robbery simply because she or he stood in the parking lot of a bank and thought about robbing it,'' wrote Williams, author of the original panel decision.

Chicago psychiatrist Daniel Yohanna said pedophilia ``doesn't go away'' and is hard to treat, so society has to find ways to protect children.

``I don't think it would be unreasonable to reduce risk by restricting where convicted sex offenders go, particularly because our current treatments are not perfect,'' said Yohanna, medical director of the Stone Institute of Psychiatry at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

Lawyers for Doe and the city of Lafayette did not return phone calls for comment.

Doe was last convicted of a sex offense in 1991, and has been in psychological treatment since 1986.

The case is John Doe v. City of Lafayette, Indiana, No. 01- 3624, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mary Wisniewski in Chicago at at mwisniewski1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 30, 2004 15:46 EDT