BIG WIN!!! Judge rules in favor of Registrants in GA Halloween Sign case!!!
A Federal Court Judge ruled Butts Count (Georgia) could not force persons required to register as sex offenders to post signs on their property during the Halloween season.
The 25 page Order, issued today, grants the injunction (preventing the Sheriff from posting the signs) with respect to the named plaintiffs, but fell short of granting the same relief for EVERY registrant in Butts, because the court found that not all registrants might object to the signs (yeah right) or there might be some that are actually dangerous. Still, presuming MOST registrants in Butts will let the Sheriff know they object to the sign, this is a huge win.
Below is a link to the order.
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This past month as I have been checking on news stories to comment on pertaining to registrants, Patch.com has dominated in this area. Now that Halloween is finally over, I found an interesting article on Patch.
Patch states that it offers links t op-ed’s written by “sex offender advocates” who oppose Patch. (I have not encountered one of their articles that had such an op-ed.)
Patch also states that they use data-driven reports. (The only data-driven reports I found were law enforcement maps of where registrants live.)
Patch states that its goal is to simplify access to publicly local registry information. (The process is already simplified — just google the map.)
I had never heard of Patch until a month ago, and I can find no useful purpose for this group. One day I started wondering why such a website even exists. Even if I were one of the people who believed the “stranger danger” myths out there, I would never use Patch.com because what they offer, which is very little, is already out there. So why does this website even exist? Then I realized what is probably fueling this group — money. They are exploiting registrants to fatten their own wallets.
This article also states that the number of different types of registries is growing. Utah now has a white collar crime registry. Why are registries growing, when the article itself states that there is no evidence that registries work? It has to be about the money.
The article on Patch.com that I was referring to is:
https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/10/for-patch-local-sex-offender-maps-are-a-halloween-tradition/#disqus_thread
You see Patch for what they are, which is not much— a lot of their reporting seems automated or outsourced. Yet every October they are a plague.
I don’t even know what they mean by “sex offender advocates.” The position of FAC, ACSOL, and NARSOL and it’s affiliates is that sex offending is never ok. As long as media outlets refer to these orgs in this way, the battle is going to be difficult and slow.
FAC is a public safety advocacy organization. We advocate for ACTUAL safety, not the feeling of safety. But it’s hard to educate Patch on that when there’s hardly anyone there it seems.