Author: FAC Contributor #3

Sen. Jeff Brandes is spearheading the state’s criminal justice reform initiative. SB 642 is his 10th justice reform-related bill pre-filed for the upcoming Florida session. “Tough on crime” laws imposed in the 1990s have increased Florida’s prison population by 29 percent in two decades. The state – with 96,313 inmates on July 1 – has the nation’s third-largest prison population. SB 642

Scam artists are now targeting sexual offenders, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office. Two local individuals contacted the Sheriff’s Office Wednesday in reference to the scheme. Both victims said they received calls informing them that the caller had a warrant against them and that they needed to provide cash to the OCSO’s North District or Brackin Office in Crestview,

In a lawsuit, Securus Technologies said the department opted for a “wish list of goodies” over lower rates for inmates and their loved ones. The Florida Department of Corrections used the procurement process for a new phone contract to ask for “value-added” perks such as inmate tracking technology, security upgrades and iPhones for its staff, instead of focusing on affordable

Our names are Dr. Jennifer Klein and Dr. Danielle Bailey and we are both Assistant Professors at the University of Texas at Tyler. As you know, we have been collecting data for a project that analyzes the economic impact of the sex offender registry on those individuals required to register. At this point, over 700 registrants have volunteered for the

On Monday, Rocky Ali Beamon was sentenced to death in Jackson County, Florida, for First Degree Premeditated Murder of Bruce Hunsicker at the Apalachee Correctional Institution in 2012. Beamon’s confessions shed light on his motive: Hunsicker was a sex offender. After watching the victim for several days to learn his schedule, Beamon killed Hunsicker in the shower area of the

A California appeals court threw out a Dept. of Corrections policy that barred sex offenders from being released on early parole. This ban had been enforced – even if the sex offender was not serving a sentence for a sex crime. The majority opinion, written by Justice Dorothy C. Kim of Div. Five, only invalidates the department’s rule that registered sex