As predicted, the rash of backlash and stupid comments following Timothy Poole’s $3MM lottery win are pouring in. Every major news network has reported on it, as if no one else with a criminal record has ever won the lottery.
I’m sure plenty of robbers and drug dealers have won also, but since they are not publicly listed on the internet, we don’t know about it.
Daniel Vasquez, in today’s Ft. Lauderdale Sun Sentinel wrote, “Florida should ban sex offenders from winning the state lottery. Period.”
Literally… he wrote that. You can read it here.
Does Daniel Vasquez think people with DUIs should win the lottery? They might go out and buy a few rounds to celebrate and…. How about drug dealers? Burglars? Murderers? Clearly people who’ve stolen money should not be permitted to win it, right?
Why don’t we just require criminal background checks to purchase lottery tickets in the first place?
So, what’s the big outrage that this writer concludes so emphatically that sex offenders should be banned from winning the lottery? Maybe he’s just used to hearing “sex offenders should be banned from…” and he’s jumping on the bandwagon?
Does he know that Sex Offenders have VERY LOW recidivism rates? Does he realize that many sex offenders never actually touched a child? Does he realize that many sex offenders are children themselves? Perhaps he should do some research and report on that?
Florida should ban ignorant reporters from winning the state lottery. Period!
If they are prohibited from winning, SOs won’t buy tickets. This is arguably doing them a favor. The lottery is a predatory institution and in practice is imposing a tax on those ignorant enough to buy tickets (the poor and near-poor).
Of course SOs should have the same right to waste their money as anuone else.
The sad thing is that the majority of the population does not concern themselves or care that all these laws are for political reasons. There has been many articles about repealing the unnecessary internet registration requirements but theres not one politician that will touch it as it is a career killer. The fact that this person won the lottery just means he is still a person who does most things exactly like everyone else does. Unless you know exactly what happened, who was involved if anyone else was, child/adult, touching,exposure,rape,romeo&Juliet law you can’t possibly walk in there shoes.
The ignorance in our country of the people that write/report the news along with those that like to judge and not research why they are making these ridicules statements is sickening, disappointing and outright dangerous. Its time to hold those people to they same “glass house” scrutiny as they seem to so enjoy passing judgement on people they dont know, dont want to know or want to find out about before making uneducated and ignorant statements.
Absolutely, Michael!
There is a blanket “one size fits all” approach when it comes to referring to “sex offenders”. Whether it’s management or classification. One member recently reached out whose crime is having a relationship one month before his “victim” turned 18. He and his “victim” are now married with children. The punishments impact his “victims” more than they do him.
To throw out a general statement like sex offenders should not be allowed to win the lottery is incredibly ignorant.
Using the guy who dated his wife a month before she turned 18 (incidentally, he’s not a convicted felon – his adjudication was withheld yet he’s still on the list), arguably he deserves to win more than anyone, since I’m sure it’s difficult for him to earn a living and that impacts him and his “victims”.
“Sex Offenders” are not all the same. Period.