17 Years Old… Punished for Life? Florida’s Registry Problem
A recent report by WESH 2 News should force Florida lawmakers to answer a question they have avoided for far too long. A 17-year-old Marion County teen (teen being the operative word, a “child” or a “minor” himself) was sentenced to five years in prison and ten years of probation after using Roblox to lure children into producing sexual content. He will also be required to register as a sex offender for life.
No one is minimizing the seriousness of the offense. Accountability matters. But so does proportionality. So here is the question: When it comes to sex offender registration should Florida treat a 17-year-old exactly the same as a 37-year-old? Because that is precisely what happens under current law.
Nobody is questioning the sentence here – he’s getting what he deserves (but that’s what punishment is for). We’re questioning the registry. One day the incarceration will end. Ten years after the supervision ends. But the registry does not. Decades from now, when he is a middle aged man, his name and picture will sit on a public registry, with just the label and no context. Nothing on there saying, “hey wait… before you judge… he did this when he was a kid!” What Florida has created is not a “criminal justice” system — it is a lifetime branding system. A teenager, whose brain is not fully developed, whose decision-making is inherently different, is given a consequence that will follow him into old age with no opportunity for review, no second look, and no path forward.
Lawmakers… It could be your child or grandchild that this happens to! How does this not terrify you? This isn’t justice. It’s legislative indifference.
The science is clear. The courts have acknowledged it. Even the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized that juveniles are fundamentally different from adults in culpability and capacity for change. Even for adults, the social science shows the longer someone is offense free in the community, the lower their risk of recidivism. Even high risk offenders, offense free for 17 years are no greater a risk of committing a sexual offense than anyone else. Yet Florida ignores this reality when it comes to the harshest, most permanent consequence it imposes.
That is a policy failure and Florida needs a tiered registry system now!
At a minimum we need: Automatic review periods to assess rehabilitation. A clear pathway off the registry for those who demonstrate they are no longer a risk. Risk-based tiers, not one-size-fits-all lifetime labeling with identical restrictions. Judicial discretion, allowing courts to consider age, maturity, and circumstances. Because a system that treats every case the same does not enhance safety — it undermines credibility. And a system that denies the possibility of change does not prevent harm — it just offers no incentive for anyone to actually change.
Florida lawmakers need to decide what this registry is supposed to be. Is it a tool for public safety or is it punishment? Because right now, it is failing at the first and over-delivering on the second.
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Not only a minor, but also, I have seen cases like this where there was no “real physical” contact but still got the same sentence as someone who actually performed a sex act.
And to place anyone on a forever registry of shame is preposterous, but for a minor, that is mind blowing. This is not about safety but more and more funding for registries, new jobs etc. related to crimes involving any sex act.
And remember, there have been homeless people who peed in the woods and been arrested for exposure. Not sure how many went on the registry, but peeing in the woods really to me, seems to not be a sex act.
There is more to the story we may never know and not just related to that minor. Good luck on that young person ever getting a good job, as many more companies are distancing registrants from employment due to “Risks and liability”.
My offense involved consensual sexual activity with a 17-year old [F.S. 794.05(1)]. Why was that 17-year old male the “victim” because of his age but this one is the perpetrator who the state said knew full well what he was doing?
Why does the state treat 17-year-olds as “children” when it suits them but “adults” when it suits them better? Either 17-year-olds are unable to understand the consequences of their actions or they are. State, please pick a story and stick to it.
The sex offender registry is about as useful at preventing sex crime (its supposed purpose) as a chainsaw is at fixing a flat tire. A tiered registry is nothing more than changing an electric chainsaw for a gas-powered one. No disrespect to Janice and ACSOL, but California got the tiered registry they fought for and now spend too much time and too many (limited) resources trying to make the tier system “work.”
But it can’t “work.” No matter the form, the registry has never “worked” in terms of preventing sex crime. Neither Florida’s system of over inclusiveness or California’s tiered system has ever prevented one single sex crime. When registrants are arrested, it’s nearly always for a registry violation. And on the rare occasions a registrant is arrested for an actual sex crime, there is never a concurrent registry violation, indicating full registry compliance at the time of arrest.
When used as an investigation tool (its other supposed purpose), the registry has only hindered investigations, demonstrated by the unfortunate Dru Sjodin case. State and federal task forces interrogated all registrants in surrounding counties, many of them arrested for hyper-technical registry violations, yet none of them having anything to do with Sjodin’s disappearance. Her assailant, a registrant, was found through routine detective work – tracing his car. With all due respect to Dru and her family, I find it very ironic that the national registry was named for her when it had absolutely nothing to do with, and in fact hindered, the investigation of her disappearance and murder.
So someone – ideally a legislator, political candidate, judge, current or former law enforcement officer, or victim advocate – please explain the “logic” that dictates the registry and all its associated obligations and restrictions are critical to public safety.
Arguing for a tiered registry is still arguing FOR the registry. It is an implicit argument that the registry is necessary for public safety and a useful law enforcement tool. But it is neither* and never can be, no matter what tweaks, adjustments, or amendments are added to it. It is simply impossible for a person to support a tiered registry out of one side of his mouth and argue registry abolishment out of the other.
*Most, if not all, LE agencies bring up the registry when submitting their funding requirements or supplement it with federal grants to conduct stings and the like. But it should be noted that the registry is not supposed to be a fundraising tool, which appears to be the only use LE agencies get out of it.
Dustin
The registry is not about keeping people safe, it is about funding for the registry and jobs. And every session they expand the rules and restrictions to the point, eventually we are all going to fall into their rabbit hole they have dug for us. Grab your parachutes, we are going to need them.
Always found it funny,17 commits a crime, they will charge them as an adult. But let them have sex with a 30yo, then they are just a poor child who cant give consent, because they are too inexperienced in life and don’t understand the ramification of their actions.
A-freakin’-men.
Yea dude I agree. I’ve said this for years lol
There needs to be a system in place. If there is going to be a public registry make it for the duration of supervision. Then you drop off. If not make it a tiered system. Make it tiered by your likelihood to reoffend not by your offense regardless if it’s a non contact crime. Because charges get pled down to a lesser offense. Finally after a certain amount of years you drop off automatically without having to spend thousands of dollars to be told yes or no.
Say a system like Florida did to the clemncy process. There request sit on a desk for 20 years. I sumitted 15 years ago to the “new faster way” and even had a govener inquire. To which the letter back was your on some desk somewhere where noing gets done. Try to get your rights back or gun rights. Another black hole of defunded processes that sound good but don’t work.
Lawmakers… It could be your child or grandchild that this happens to! How does this not terrify you?
Sadly the answer is simple. If it happens to someone in their family they have enough power and influence for their loved one to not suffer the consequences of lifetime registration like the “peasants”. The registry is for other peoples’ families, not theirs.
This is very true. Look at how many celebrities who would be on the registry if it wasn’t for their fame. And there are many who are the sons and daughters of the wealthy and influential who escape the registry as well as celebrities.
As for the rest of us???