June 24, 2013
Contact: Gail Colletta
561.305.4959
Lake Monroe, FL— June 24, 2013.
Tragedy in Jacksonville Underscores Failures of Sex Offender Management Programs
The State’s Sex Offender Management policies have failed 8 year old Charish Perrywinkle, who was killed this weekend by a career criminal with repeated sexual offenses and kidnapping in his history. The Florida Action Committee is devastated by the news and deeply saddened by the loss of this little girl.
How many more tragedies will it take before Legislators sit down with professionals in the assessment of risk and sex offender management and begin replacing feel-good, do-nothing legislation with laws that actually protect children and make communities safer?
As the Florida Action Committee has repeatedly cautioned; the broad brush approach that is being applied to all offenders is exhausting already limited resources and diluting focus from those who require it. The alleged killer in this case had a 19 page criminal history [see:http://www.actionnewsjax.com/media/lib/1/6/3/3/633dd191-3a81-48f4-8364-0b2af98afcb0/JSOPoliceReport_SmithCriminalPast.pdf] dating back to 1977.
Even though sex offenders, as a group, have a very low risk of recidivism, we all know that a small percentage presents a very high risk. We have access to the tools to identify and deal with them, yet the State refuses to apply them, in favor of politically popular methods which have been proven not to work.
If we had a system based on risk assessment instead of a one-size-fits all approach to sex offender management, greater resources and supervision could have been placed on this individual, who clearly presented an extremely high likelihood to reoffend. Perhaps this girl would be alive today if that were the case.
This horrific tragedy is just one more illustration that our current system is not working! The Florida Action Committee is calling for a round table of legislators and professionals in the area of sex offender risk management to replace our current broken system. We do not need another example of why this one is not working
Florida Action Committee (FAC), founded in 2006, is a state-wide consortium of concerned citizens and professionals whose purpose is to promote the prevention of sexual abuse while preserving the safety and dignity of all citizens through carefully structured laws targeting the truly violent, forced, and/or dangerous predatory acts of sex. FAC believes that many aspects of the current approach to sex offenders seriously undermine justice and actually increase the threat of sexual assault against others, particularly children. FAC opposes a publicized registry of sex offenders and seeks to bring an end to the humiliation of people who have already paid for their crimes. FAC asserts that only by supporting justice for all people—offenders and victims alike can a truly safe society be built and secured for all Americans.
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