FAC Weekly Update 2025-08-19-Labels Fail People and Communities

Dear Members and Advocates,

It’s time for a little self-care and motivation. A couple of weeks ago we wrote about restoring humanity to criminal justice, especially when it concerns our population. We wrote how certain Sheriffs’ press conferences where they refer to registrants as “scum bags” and “monsters” inflame the public and lead to consequences from shaming to vigilantism, to murder. Most disturbing is when it comes from elected officials and law enforcement officers. We write a lot about how it impacts public perception, but we have not addressed how it affects self-perception.

In Florida, no one has been more vocal about registry laws than lobbyist Ron Book. He’s gone on record before lawmakers calling people forced to register “monsters” and famously claiming that when it comes to re-offense, “it’s not if, but when.” I remember watching his testimony and screaming at my monitor. That’s BS!!! His rhetoric might work in the Capitol and his familiar, fear-driven cliché might serve his daughter’s non-profit, but decades of research prove it false. Data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics shows a sexual re-offense rate in the single digits and, in fact, 95% of people on the registry DON’T sexually reoffend! We all know how hearing his baloney makes lawmakers feel and react, but let’s stop to think about how it makes registrants feel and react… isn’t that important to public safety also?

There’s a saying that goes, “If you treat people like animals, don’t be surprised when they start acting like animals.” Turns out, the research agrees. Scientists call it dehumanization and labeling. When society brands you with a label — “sex offender,” “monster,” “dangerous” — that becomes the only thing people see. Psychologists have studied this and found that once a label sticks, it not only shapes the way others treat you, but how you feel about yourself. Over time, you start to feel like maybe that’s all you are. And if everyone believes you’re hopeless, the weight of those expectations drags you down. They call that a self-fulfilling prophecy. When people expect the worst, it becomes harder not to live down to it. When you trap someone under the weight of stigma, push them into homelessness, and cut off every path to normal life, you’re creating the very conditions that lead to failure.

Dehumanization is even worse. That’s when people stop seeing you as fully human at all. Studies show it leads to more aggression and less compliance, and I get it. When you’re constantly treated like you don’t belong in society, you can’t live anywhere, you can’t work anywhere, you can’t go anywhere, you go into survival mode. It’s not healthy, but it’s the reality for many of us forced onto the registry. Here in Florida, we’re living in one of the worst environments in the world. We all have to carry this label forever, no matter what our actual risk is or how long we’ve proven we can be good citizens. A large longitudinal study found that youth labelled as “juvenile delinquents” were more likely to fall into negative peer groups and reoffend even when their original offense was minor. Just tagging them as juvenile delinquents literally turned them into delinquents. It’s something called the “Golem effect,” which shows us that when people are expected to fail or offend again, it becomes much harder for them to prove otherwise. So all this rhetoric is counter-productive when it comes to public safety. For many of us, the way people feel about us is the way we wind up feeling about ourselves.

In my volunteer work for FAC I spend a lot of time watching these press conferences, reviewing new ordinances, and reading people’s comments on misinformed news articles. Every new ban, every residency restriction, every negative comment is like another message screaming at me: You’re not human. You’re not wanted. You don’t belong. It wears on me to the point of debilitation. I sometimes wonder whether I should just stop doing all I’m doing. Crawl into a cave and give up… But I can’t. Another part of me gets a powerful energy from this work. It’s cathartic to push back. Even though they might seem few and far between, it’s exhilarating when we do make strides forward.

When I started getting involved with FAC there were only a few dozen of us and now we are thousands! The knowledge that at least a thousand like-minded people are reading this weekly update and receiving the affirmation that you are not alone, you are a human being deserving of dignity, you are not defined by the label imposed on you, you are wanted and needed and you can make a difference to improve your life and the lives of those who care about you, is too powerful a platform to not take full advantage of! Last week we posted an invitation at the top of our website for people to get involved in our Media Committee. Please take advantage of this invitation!!! On a daily basis we get more than 50 comments to our posts that need moderation and occasional responses. On a daily basis we get dozens of inquiries from people who are in our situation and need direction. On a regular basis we have the opportunity to speak with lawmakers, write op-eds to misinformed stories, post comments to online news and social media posts, create informative videos to correct the myths and run them as paid ads online. And every single minute of the day we are handed the opportunity to impact public perception, influence lawmaking decisions and prove to the world that we are human beings, making positive change and worthy of being treated with dignity. It would be a grievous mistake to not take advantage of the opportunities we have. Plus, being a part of the change and the knowledge that you are doing something to prove to the world you are worthy will change the way you feel about yourself. I promise you!

But don’t rely on my promise. There’s psychological theory behind it. Whether it’s Self-Perception Theory, Cognitive Dissonance Theory, Self-Determination Theory, Broaden-and-Build Theory or just the basic concept that when you take action toward a positive change, it reinforces a better self-image. It works and you owe it to yourself to try. Help us get our simple message out to lawmakers and the public, that when you treat someone who has already been accountable for their crime like a human being, with dignity and the chance to live a stable life, you actually get safer communities.

So stop wallowing in what others put out there and do something for yourself. There’s strength in numbers and we have the numbers, so get involved today!

Sincerely,

The Florida Action Committee