Abolish the Sex Offender Registry [petition]
[change.org]
How does the sex offender registry protect society and children?
In a nutshell, it doesn’t.
The sex offender registry protects no one, and takes rights away from tax paying citizens who have paid their debt to society as defined by the courts. People can say what they want about the registry not being punitive, but in reality it is punitive. A person on the registry cannot work, cannot live in most areas, cannot use the internet, cannot travel without notifying the police in person and in writing, cannot have an email address unless they register it with the police in person and in writing, have to register anywhere they are located for more than 3 days consecutively, or visits more than 6 times in a 6 month period, is not allowed into any public parks or pools, cannot attend schools, cannot obtain a visa for travel, must register phone numbers in person and writing to the police, and must register any changes of any of the above in person and in writing, and the list goes on, along with ignorant and angry citizens taking vigilante violence against these ex-offenders who have paid for their crimes. What happens if the registered EX-sex offenders fail to abide by any of the above? 15 years to life in prison.
Okay, okay, okay…. What are the benefits of having the registry? None.
Read more and sign the petition
Discover more from Florida Action Committee
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
As far as I’m concerned once you sexually abuse someone you forgot all rights. You no longer have rights.
Concerned parent
I am also. A concerned parent but sorry to say you have been drinking cool aid made from toilet water. The problem is there putting the wrong people on the list and making you think your safe by making you think this list is in some way making you safer. Guess what it doesn’t. It makes you more unsafe. For one thing tell me one incident of the one million on the list that has made one child safer. I’ve never seen even one example. But there have been many examples on this sight of prosecutors pilling over registry lists looking for a suspect of a crime only to find out they’re looking in the wrong place. Most on the list are there because of things that 90% of the American population has done but nobody cared. Till they run into someone who wants to exaggerate the details and find a law that they can in some remote way relate to a sex crime. And punish them for life for. Please do the research, get the facts, and understand that people make mistakes and change. Then like the Bible says let the one without sin cast the first stone.
Offenders often save lives, from drowning ect. Save the people that want to Hang them Registry is so harsh… sometimesto hell with it, let em ..drown. that really rips the conscience at night. Regestry kills people. Truth.
Save a life.. (here, take your kid), then offender is so pissed he runs his yacht 20 miles wide open trying to sink it… here, take your kid, your Future, Your family.. I got NONE. Let me kill myself in peace. HERE, TAKE YOUR KID.
I bet you don’t even believe your own postings, Concerned Parent. Forgo all rights? Do you realize that approximately one-third of offenders are themselves juveniles? Which of those juveniles’ rights would you like to permanently remove? Didn’t think so.
But you should be concerned, because statistically, your child is more likely to be PLACED on a registry than be harmed by someone who’s already been convicted of it. And that WOULD harm your child, and their psychological development, considerably.
Sorry, but no. That’s not the way our constitution works. Our constitution speaks of “inalienable rights” of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. that means that man does not have the right to take away these rights under any circumstances.
I believe the registry is barbaric. It’s a human rights and a personal hippa violation.
As a former teacher, a foster mom and a parent myself, I certainly want to know that my children and my students are safe.
But, consider this- a man or a woman who made a terrible mistake 30 plus years ago, and is on the registry for life. Even though they have done their time, gone to years of counseling (they themselves were victims, as a child). 52 different requirements piled up on them every day, and now for the rest of their lives their personal information address is out there for everyone to see and now it’s even on their license. When will it stop?
With the recidivism rates as low as they are 90 plus percent of these offenders will never offend again and yet they’re listed on the Registry list for their life. This does nothing to increase public safety and it only breeds fear and pushes these men more and more back into a lonely corner where they have no one.
#WeveGotToDoBetter
#NoMoreScarletLetters
The sex offender registry keeps other children safe. I want to know if your living next door to me and you have abused a child. I think every parent deserves the right to protect their children against sex offenders so that they cannot re-offend. I do not want pedophiles working ANY jobs where children are present period. The registry does a lot. Including keep other children safe. The police use this registry when children go missing and it has solved a lot of cases and saved a lot of children. DO NOT ABOLISH THE REGISTRY IT IS THERE FOR A REASON!
You have a false sense of security, Concerned Parent. The registry does not accomplish any of the goals you think it does. And we’ve known that for a long time.
You actually believe the police have successfully used a registry to help them find missing children? Puh-leeze. It won’t even tell you who’s at risk to abuse your children!
I would agree with you, that someone who has abused a child, should not be working with children! But that has nothing to do with registries, now does it?
So good luck keeping your children safe from abuse, with that attitude.
@Concerned parent:
You are wrong. Your short little paragraph shows you know nothing about Registries.
First off, Registries obviously aren’t needed or beneficial. If you disagree, you can answer just a few very, very simple, short questions for everyone. This is what the questions are about – pretend that you have one neighbor who is listed on your glorious Registries and one neighbor who is not.
The first question that you must answer is – which of them has committed more $EX crimes?
The second – which of them is most dangerous today?
Last question – if you were actually concerned about children, with regards to safety, would you be able to treat the two people any differently?
If you can answer just those basic, trivial questions correctly, you’ll be on your way to knowing why the Registries are not just worthless, but why they are much, much worse.
Regarding the rest of your nonsense ….
People who are listed on your glorious Registries (i.e. People Forced to Register, PFRs) are around people, including children, all the time and those people have no idea that the people are listed. It is easy for PFRs to have close and frequent relationships and contact with people who have no idea they are listed. Easy. I’ve personally seen hundreds of cases. Your magic hit list might ostracize a bunch of “neighbors”, but that’s it. Sorry. It’s trivial to never interact with those “neighbors”. Like they don’t exist.
Probably the dumbest, least informed thing you said was, “The police use this registry …”.
No competent law enforcement (LE) agency uses the Registries for help when “children go missing”. Competent LE knows that is a complete waste of time. They may say that they use it, and they may go around and talk to PFRs, but that is ONLY to placate the brainless, clueless public (i.e. people like you). They know it is a complete distraction from actually solving any crime. Competent LE will do nothing with the Registries except put on a show. They WILL use it to try to get themselves more $$$$$$$$$$ though. The love that part.
And really, how dumb do you have to be to think that would be useful? The Registries are a constant reminder for PFRs that if you intend to commit an anonymous crime (and most $EX crimes certainly are not even anonymous, duh!), you need to do it far from where you are Registered. Personally, if I were going to kidnap someone, it would be 500+ miles from my home and where OTHER people are Registered. Then your braintrust LE can run around and interview/harass all of those PFRs there to put on a show for people like you.
Anyway, I’m sorry but you people very, very quickly fatally broke your Registries toy. Like 2 decades ago. If the Registries had ONLY been you as you people originally lied they would be – so that people were “informed” – AND all the 100+ other Registries that MUST now exist did, then maybe, possibly, conceivably, perhaps, Registries could be acceptable to humans and decent Americans. But the Registries are faaaaaaaaaaaaaar from that and it will never be fixed.
So there has to be war. I promise you that as long as Registries exist there will be plenty of people who are ensuring that they are useless and that Registry Supporters/Terrorists are suffering real world, legal consequences for it.
Message to Registry Supporters/Terrorists: Sic semper tyrannis. Here’s a famous quote for you – “You think you can be ruthless? Let’s see how you like it when the fighting is brought to you.”
Concerned Parent you are wrong on so many levels. First anyone convicted of a felony in Floriduh is required to give a DNA sample so law enforcement already has it you don’t need to know. The man next door who sexually abused a child may have been a 19 year old boy who had relations with his 14 year old girlfriend but he’s 40 now trying to support his wife and children but finds it difficult to do so. The incidents you speak of account for 1-3 % of the total population of 1 million. And just so you know it’s not the next door neighbor who is required to register that you should be concerned about it’s your childs teacher clergyman sports coach martial arts instructor and good old uncle Bob and aunt Jane none of whom are on the registry. The fact is 95-97% of registrants do not re-offend. One more thing there are 100 ways to be placed on the registry not all are rapists
No, in reality, it doesn’t. This is because the vast majority of sex offenses (over 95 per cent) are committed by first time offenders whom are not registered.
Thanks,.. I wanted to hear that, I will turn a blind eye from now on when someone is drowning. It’s on you..
@Concerned parent
I thought the point of keeping the police around on our tax dollars means that THEY are what’s protecting the community.
So now here’s a question: in what way is the information on sex offense registries meant to be used by people? If you mean to be aware of that person, ok. But awareness doesn’t magically grant you a badge and make you a cop, so if you’re going to do the work of one without being paid then why pay cops?
So they keep throwing around this idea of “community policing”. Ok, but then what’s the difference? Wouldn’t it make sense that only police (who can be held accountable) should have access to criminal information? Now if you’re going to argue that people have the right to know WHAT IS IT ABOUT KNOWING THAT CHANGES ANYTHING? If that person is not CURRENTLY committing a crime then they are not an OFFENDER. They may HAVE offended (and some have even been falsely accused) but if they’re out of the system then they are no longer criminals. They are now given a chance to rehabilitate and reintegrate.
And even then, try to imagine how difficult it is to reintegrate when you’ve created this shady world of social media and gosip. I believe if a person’s making the effort to reintegrate and they’re keeping inline with what’s expected of them then that person should be left alone. There’s nothing to fear from that person other than what the scare tactics of district attorneys and politicians want people to fear.
Besides that, anyone supporting tougher sex offense laws or stricter regulations should try to imagine being one of those aforementioned “falsely accused” people. Imagine how easy it is to lie in today’s world and how that lie can ruin a person and their family’s lives.
And the effort that will be made by the district attorneys to cover-up the lie. Imagine that. Because that’s the country you’re building with all this bad legislation.
I just wanted to say it took me a long time to realized I am in the same boat as the rest of you.I say this because I had a lot of angry and bitterness toward those who had convictions of child molestation charges,even I do not have those types of sex crimes I used to blame you(I am not singling anyone out). for me being on this list I know from reading these comments that there are others who hurt inside as much as I do because the sex offender laws are so wrong and took plea deals without knowing the harm this does to us. I also wanted to say I am so sorry for being judge mental towards individuals. I know if no one else loves you I will !!!!!
Think Trump and Franken will ever end on the list? haHa right
someone needs to abolish it. I just don’t know who would or could.
It won’t be abolished until the large news attention getting heinous crimes stop happening… chance of that happening?… we’re the only ones marked with Scarlet Letters. The small amount of cases that get nationwide attention ruin it for the rest of us who either made 1 time mistakes or were innocent but took pleas due to the fear of not getting a fair trial. It’s been proven time and time again that the registry serves no purpose other than to waste money and attempt to quell the fears of those who have no sense of reasoning. Majority of new cases are people not even on the registry. People in politics have no backbone, they’re selfish and look out for themselves. They create laws based on incorrect data that’s been proven to be false. Why would they back a cause, while full of injustice, when the majority of their constituents believe it’s a necessity? They’d lose votes and no longer hold their positions. While there are nearly 1 million registered sex offenders, that’s 1 million voters that don’t get to vote (maybe some get to, but not in Florida). Their families could vote, their friends could vote… but where are their voices? This petition was created how many months ago and it only has 3,307 signatures? We can’t even stand up for ourselves. Families and friends are just as scared to speak up for us because of the backlash even they could face. Get policy makers on the registry, get their family members on the registery, that’s the only path I see that will cause any real change. They’d experience first hand the injustice that we face every day. I started a business a few months ago, it’s dependent on social media and word of mouth… and while it’s currently successful, if one person finds out and posts it, my business will be done for. It doesn’t matter how long ago our offenses were, it doesn’t matter if it was a 1 time mistake or a fear taken plea, we’re all the worse scum of the universe. I’d say that nobody cares, but it wouldn’t be true… obviously FAC cares and other organizations… but is it really helping? Is anything changing? Judges, Politicians, Law Enforcement… they’re the people we need to finally put their feet down and help stand up and raise voices. It won’t happen, at least not in my life time. I hope I am wrong. Every day I look at my son, my wife, my mom and I wonder if a shoe is going to drop and take me away from them. Every day I struggle to be successful in order to give them everything I can. Every day I’m scared that everything I work for in order to rise above this label society has put on me, will all be taken away over something little and stupid simply because a politician doesn’t see us as humans, because a registry enforcer is in a bad mood and hates me one day while I’m re-registering so they cuff me over an infraction that had NOTHING to do with my case nor was even a law 21 years ago when the incident supposedly happened. We need a 1 Million Sex Offender March on DC… but then 1 Million SO’s will be in jail for some violation or another.
I wish I could tell you that something you said wasn’t true but I can’t. What you described fits the situation of hundreds of thousands . All I can say is your not alone. NARSOL is trying to take a case of an artist who was put on the registry because of painting a picture of a bridge and a yellow truck. A girl complained because she was raped in a yellow truck. And got very upset after looking at it This is the kind of insanity we’re up against. It’s now illegal to upset anyone. No one is taught anymore that there are going to be things you see that your not going to like. You have to have some inner strength and get over it and get on with life. I do know we can’t give up fighting and show we are stronger than they are. Things do change.
Well stated.
I ended up moving to a different state after my release because of Florida’s unreasonable rules involving sex offender registration. I completed my sentence, and since I have no probation, I am among one of the lucky ones who could leave this state. Sex offender registration in Florida does nothing to protect the public. What it does do is make it far more likely that those under registration will end up back in prison. Not because they committed another crime, but simply because they might possibly inadvertently break one of the laundry list of rules that they have to live by for life. These “technical violations” help feed the revolving door in the prison system. A system which employs around 24,000 people and has a budget in excess of 2.4 billion dollars per year. (Those numbers are from the Florida Department of Corrections own website) That’s big business for the state, so it’s in their interest to have a high recidivism rate. Besides the obvious double jeopardy factor, one can see that this is not about “protecting the public”. It is about money, pure and simple and lives and families are ruined in the process. Justice is no where in sight.
I was free and clear until i came to florida. Level 1 not public and now pasted on the web just because i came here… so now just because i moved and not because of the plea i cant go anywhere. Just because i moved im on this list that even the prosecuters in ny tried to keep me off. 20 years succesful professional traveled everywhere paid my dues but just because i moved here my family is marked. The crime we are alll guilty of is : living while in florida. We would be able to enter parks we would be able to travel even with our dues paid but just for the single fact we are or set foot in florida we are removed from the mainstream and put into oblivion. Its not our crimes that restrict most of us its literally the fact that we are in florida. We are convicted floridians……
May i ask what state you moved to? Im trying to move my husband from Nv.
From new york to florida. Was just visiting then got nailed with sone failure to report but it got “no info’d” which means there was no case. For some reason before due process though the correction officer put me on the registry when processed and have been on ever since: even though the state dropped or decided not to pursue. Still cant figure it out. Stay away
They wont even expunge the case they themselves dropped