It's a tricky one but I'd say it is a different issue.  They may well have served their time but that does not necessarily mean that they are no longer a risk to the public.

You could probably argue that point for any other offender also.  I'm still in two minds about public registers of sex offenders because it can lead to people being victimised on an horrific level when they actually are no longer a risk or the level of offence that put them on the register does not necessarily equate to paedophilia (or they happen to have the same name as someone on the register, or were falsely accused).  I don't know what criteria put people on the register, is it any sex offence and aren't people removed after a certain length of time for some offences?  Can the public find out what the offence was?

What does the public gain from having access to that information?  Will they stop their children from going out, take alternative routes to the shops, scream blue murder about it at neighbourhood watch meetings?  

I can see the case for an awareness of friends/family members being on the register since most attacks are committed by people known to the victim.

Should people not exercise some degree of caution about their personal safety anyway?  Could knowing that Mr X in number 32 is on the register provide a false sense of 'security' that if he is avoided/intimidated then we'll all be fine? Or will they actually be safer for knowing? Can such things as random attacks from being in the wrong place at the wrong time be avoided?  

Ad astra per aspera