Reforming Florida’s Sex Offender Registry Laws
A recent Spectrum News story, “Homeless families placed in motels find unwelcome neighbors: sex offenders” sounds exactly like the kind of headline meant to stir people up. But if you get past the headline, the story tells a very different truth. Buried in the article is something lawmakers rarely admit: people on the registry can’t find housing. Not because they
Read moreMaine State Police is warning of a scam that is targeting sex offenders in the state. The issue was brought to those who run the Sex Offender Registry that the scam is targeting registered people on probation in Maine. A letter is being mailed to people, claiming to be from the ‘Maine Probation Tonduary.’ The letter claims there has been
Read moreA new meta-analysis is reinforcing what researchers have been saying for years: Florida’s one-size-fits-all approach of keeping everyone on the registry for life and subjecting them to the same sweeping restrictions runs directly counter to the evidence. Drawing on 30 non-overlapping samples, the study found that individuals whose offenses are limited to Child Sexual Exploitation Material (CSEM) have very low
Read moreIn Northampton, Massachusetts, a man identified only as John Doe has brought a legal challenge against the Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board, asking a Superior Court judge to examine not just his classification, but the constitutionality of the system that labeled him. Massachusetts does not follow the federal tier-based model used in many other states (which is offense-based). Instead, its
Read moreA commercial website, sendmailfromhell.com/map is offering something deeply troubling. It provides a map interface tied to registrants in Florida and encourages users to target them. For a fee, they will send an anonymous “glitter bomb” to the recipient. This is a platform that is intended to facilitate harassment, intimidation, unwanted communication and potentially violence. Please help us get this website
Read moreWe’ve sat through numerous Florida House of Representative and Florida Senate Committee meetings this past legislative session and what we kept hearing over, and over again from lawmakers is “we need to protect the children!” It’s a pledge that’s usually delivered in almost theatrical fashion, with the insistence that it must be done at all costs, no matter the consequences
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