7/29/2013 – Press Release Florida Action Committee

July 29, 2013
Contact: Gail Colletta
561.305.4959

Lake Monroe, FL— July 29, 2013.

Sex Offender Registry has Become an Online Hit List 

What was once a tool for law enforcement to quickly locate potential suspects in the event of a sexual crime, has now become an online hit list.

Last week Charles and Gretchen Parker of Union County, South Carolina, were murdered by a vigilante who targeted the Parkers because Charles was listed on the State’s sex offender registry for a crime committed twenty-two years ago. The suspects told police they had plans to continue on their killing spree, targeting other registrants, had they not been caught.

This incident, unfortunately, is not an isolated one. Over 37 murders have been attributable to vigilantes targeting registrants solely because of their status. In 2012, Patrick Drum murdered two sex offenders and also told police that he was going to kill more. Among the murdered was Gary Blanton, a married father of two young children who was on the registry for a consensual relationship when he was 17.

While study after study has disproved the effectiveness of the registry as a tool to prevent sexual abuse, what last week’s murders has proven is that the registry is being used as a tool to shame, harass, intimidate, assault and even murder those who are on it and their families.

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.