Aging offenders need to be considered
Every morning I scan the news for headlines containing certain keywords, so I can report any relevant updates to our membership. Among the results today, I find the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office’s publication of a sexual predator moving into Boynton Beach, as published in a local newspaper’s website. To avoid bringing further unwanted attention to the individual, I won’t link to the story, but when I check the flyer I see that the man is 98 years old and the “new address” is a nursing home. His offense pre-dates the existence of the registry.
I question the utility of making this announcement. The guy is 98 years old and in a nursing facility. I can see possibly notifying the facility, but why publish it online for the world to see? Even if he ever was, he is no danger to anyone now. The only thing that can come of it, possibly, is the attention will cause issues for the nursing home and he’ll get kicked out with nowhere to go; a problem facing many aging registrants.
Separately, I got an email this morning from a caregiver of another elderly person on the registry. The man is physically handicapped and wheelchair bound because of a stroke. He needs assistance to move and is sometimes lucid and sometimes incoherent. The burden of remembering his quarterly registration obligations has fallen on the caregiver, the hardship of physically getting him to the sheriff’s office has fallen on the caregiver, and now that Clay county is charging $25 an update, the cost of registration has fallen on the caregiver. She asked if anything can be done.
Sadly, there is nothing that can be done. When Florida made their registry lifetime they made no accommodations in the statute for elderly, physically or mentally ill registrants. They impose the same requirements and obligations on all people. Registrants, as with all people, age. They face limitations and challenges. Often the burden of registration is put on their caregiver, or sometimes the registrant is a caregiver for their spouse and because of residency restrictions, they can’t move to a retirement home to take care of the loved one. In either case, it’s the caregiver that’s punished, not the registrant.
We need to call on the legislators to introduce a bill that will offer relief in these situations.
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Here’s the bill: CS/SB 574 Aging Inmate Conditional Release
Specifically excludes persons required to register as “sex offenders” and murderers.
http://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2020/574/BillText/c1/PDF
“We need to call on the legislators to introduce a bill that will offer relief in these situations.”
Introduce and pass a bill to abolish the registry. Problem solved.
My question is this: If you cannot afford to pay for registration, can they turn you away unregistered?
I had always thought (only because it makes sense) that they would still register you but maybe put some kind of lien system kinda like court fees. It makes absolutely no sense to me that they would refuse to register you when that forces you into “committing” a crime.
Also, I was told that one of the reasons the registry was able to be applied retroactively was because it didn’t make your sentence any more onerous (yeah, right). By charging to register, that obviously adds a burden.
So, would they still have ro register you with no money, or not?
Yes – if they refuse to register you, call FDLE
I wouldn’t register accept on reasonable accommodations as a seriously handicapped individual. Let the state house me and care for me.
Gotta wonder how quickly this law would change if there was a huge influx of 90+ disabled folks on the registry all being incarcerated because they simply didn’t register. The burden would be pretty great on the community jail/prison housing them.
As cruel as it sounds for the individual – much like the comment about monetizing misery… what if the person they are supposed to make money off of no longer can pay?
Announcing the address change on the 98 year old is simply the LEO touting their horn to prove they are doing their job to protect (and supposedly serve)…