Palm Beach Judge Recognizes Stigma of Sex Offender Label
A Palm Beach Judge said “ You may as well write a tattoo across his forehead that says sex offender” when reminding the Prosecutor of the debilitating consequences of being labeled a sex offender. “When he tries to get a job, when he tries to have a good relationship with someone, when he tries to bring his kids to school. That’s a significant consequence.” Judge Scott Suskauer said at the sentencing of a man who was convicted of having a consensual relationship with a 17 year old when he was 25.
The “victim”, who had since turned 18, who couldn’t be present in court because of an order preventing contact, wrote a letter in support of the man, even asking for permission them to have contact.
I imagine it’s possible that one day this man and his victim will marry. They might have kids together. Then the whole family will suffer the crippling stigma of the sex offender label, punishing the “victim” for the rest of her life.
This case is a reminder that not all people on the sex offender registry are the same. A one-size-fits all registry doesn’t fit all.
Note how the source article recognizes that the sex offender label is “Punishment”.
You might want to write the journalist to thank her for covering this in a fair and unbiased way. She can be reached at: hphillips@pbpost.com
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MARCH 2, 2025 BY ANNA P. SAMMONS
SORNA’s $10 Billion Price Tag
The Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) recently dispatched this letter urging DOGE to cut funding for the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). Fun fact: contrary to popular belief, SORNA does not govern the federal sex offender registry because there IS no federal sex offender registry. Instead, we have a complex patchwork of compliance obligations that vary considerably from state to state and even city to city. SORNA is essentially a sprawling federal overlaw that aims to regulate these various systems. SORNA has not been studies as extensively as the older state systems have been, but recent studies suggest that since it passed, it has not demonstrated a statistically significant impact on lowering recidivism rates.
SORNA’s cost? A cool $10 billion annually, siphoned from taxpayers to sustain a regime ACSOL argues is both cruel and pointless. (Unless, of course, the cruelty is the point—a glaring possibility the letter’s authors sidestep with almost tragic naiveté.)
The ACSOL letter zeroes in on SORNA’s absurdity and excess with almost painful earnestness. For example, the letter highlights some recently issued regulations that impose impossible burdens on registrants. Many now face quarterly check-ins—four times a year—despite the fact that most state laws require just one and will not permit quarterly check-ins. Then there are the “unique identifiers” that are now being branded onto passports for those convicted of sex offenses involving victims under the age of 18. That includes people convicted of statutory rape for having underaged girlfriends 25 years ago. Only two modern regimes have added similar markings to the passports of its citizens to identify them as members of a pariah class: Nazi Germany, with its “J” stamp on Jewish passports, and the Soviet Union, which coded Jewish citizens’ travel papers.
ACSOL’s ask is simple: defund SORNA and reroute that $10 billion to something worthwhile.
Let’s pause for a moment to wrap our heads around that number. $10 billion. Every year. It’s so much money it’s hard to grasp without some sort of context. Here’s what that cash we’d save by eliminating SORNA could buy instead:
Housing for child victims. With 1 million child crime victims yearly (per the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention), $10 billion could grant each one $50,000 to invest and then use to make a home down payment when they grow up.
Free pianos and piano lessons for every 4th grader. Picture every 4th grader attending one of America’s struggling public schools—roughly 1 million, per National Center for Education Statistics—getting a free electronic keyboard and $50 weekly lessons, all year.
Housekeeping for low-income families. Figuring $80 per biweekly cleaning, $10 billion could cover a year of professional house-cleaning service for every single-parent, low-income household in America (based on U.S. Census data).
Free College for all high achievers. $10 billion could bankroll full rides (four years at a public college or university of their chopice) for every student in America scoring above 1200 on the SAT—that’s relying on the numbers provided by College Board stats.
ACSOL promises to post any DOGE response on their website, where you can also read the full letter and weigh in.