CALL TO ACTION: Lifetime Monitoring Bill To Be Heard Next Week
This is URGENT!!!
The Lifetime Monitoring Bill is being heard on Tuesday. That’s this coming Tuesday!
If you are opposed to this bill it is important that you please call and email the senate committee. We are counting on our members to call and send emails by the thousands!!!
You do not need to mention if you are a registered citizen, related to one, or a friend of one.
You only need to tell them,
“HB203./SB134 is not good policy for Florida, It is not based on empirical research, and will be an unsustainable cost to the tax payers. You prefer they put these resources towards prevention, education and victim services.”
OR
“I’m calling about HB203 or (SB134) As a citizen of Florida I am really hopeful we will begin to create and pass legislation that is based on empirical evidence and this bill clearly is not. It also flies in the face of being fiscally responsible with tax payer dollars and public safety. With all of the restrictions on registered citizens they will not be able to pay these charges for life and will be back in prison. The tax payer footing the bill. If the only reason we will re-incarcerate someone who is otherwise not breaking any law, living in a law abiding manner, but because they are poor and cannot pay a debt imposed by punishment, will be re-incarcerated makes no sense. Prison should be for those who pose such a concern to public safety they cannot be managed in the community, this would not be the case. DO NOT SUPPORT THIS BILL, I AM ASKING YOU TO VOTE NO!”
Points:
• Does nothing for prevention, the monitor does not prevent new offenses and is contrary to allowing an offender to effectively re-integrate back into society. The monitor creates a hardship for an offender to even go food shopping. It goes off in most large retail locations. Publix, Target just to name a few, not allowing them to complete their shopping. They must go outside to re-establish their signal and vacate their purchase.
• Burden for cost will fall back to the tax payer both for the cost of monitoring as well as the cost of incarceration for a violation. It will also present false information on numbers relating to recidivism.
• Not supported by empirical evidence,. After about 8 years and again in half after 10… After 15 years the risk drops to zero 0… NO greater risk than anyone else in the community who has never been convicted of a sex offense. Sex offenders have a low recidivism rate to begin with as compared to the other offender populations.
• Creates a revolving door back to the prison, is contrary to public interest and contrary to smart justice.
• Denies Liberty and Due Process
• There is no basis other than punishment and ignorance which drives such policy.
It is your responsibility to reach out to your legislators and all those on the Criminal Justice Sub Committees in both the house and senate to advise them this is not what Florida wants or needs. (SEE LIST AND CONTACTS BELOW)
TO FIND YOUR LEGISLATORS:
www.myfloridahouse.gov click on Representatives or enter your address www.flsenate.gov click on senator or enter your zip code
Senate Criminal Justice Sub Committee
Chairman:
Greg Evers [R] [email protected] 850.487.5002
Vice Chair
Audrey Gibson [D] [email protected] 850.487.5009
Rob Bradley [R] [email protected] 850.487.5007
Jeff Brandes [R] [email protected] 850.487.5022
Jeff Clemens [D] [email protected] 850.487.5027
House of Representatives Criminal Justice Sub Committee
Chair 12/8/2014 – 8/1/2015
Trujillo, Carlos [R] [email protected] 850.717.5105
Vice Chair 12/8/2014 – 8/1/2015
Van Zant, Charles E. [R] [email protected] 850.717.5019
Democratic Ranking Member 12/19/2014 – 8/1/2015
Bracy, Randolph [D] [email protected] 850.717.5045
Baxley, Dennis K. [R] [email protected] 850.717.5023
Fant, Jay [R] [email protected] 850.717.5015
Harrell, Gayle B. [R] [email protected] 850.717.5083
Kerner, Dave [D] [email protected] 850.717.5087
Latvala, Chris [R] [email protected] 850.717.5067
Pilon, Ray [R] [email protected] 850.717.5072
Plakon, Scott [R] [email protected] 850.717.5029
Pritchett, Sharon [D] [email protected] 850.717.5102
Spano, Ross [R] [email protected] 850.717.5059
Watson, Jr., Clovis [D] [email protected] 850.717.5020
You can also refer them to this report:
https://floridaactioncommittee.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/HighRiskOffenders_MayNotBeHighForever_Hanson_Harris_Helmus_Thornton.pdf
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A moment of sanity, perhaps?
http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Documents/loaddoc.aspx?FileName=2015s0134.pre.cj.DOCX&DocumentType=Analysis&BillNumber=0134&Session=2015
Wow! it does sound like sanity! They actually seem to “get it” – I like the wording that the lifetime monitoring is punishment and would have to be part of the adjudication – well duh! They recognize in here that it would have to monitored by the sheriff office and the majority of registered citizens would not be able to pay just becasue they say so! This looks good!
thanks, Jerry. that just made my day
Spoke to 8 clerks and 1 Representative directly. All members of the Senate sub committee were reached. Most responses seemed genuinely positive, two of the clerks actually requested my letter so they could seemingly argue on our behalf. I emailed both of them directly. Overall not a bad experience. I hope many will do it, and some of the clerks mentioned having similar calls so I know there’s been a show up. Good work everyone.
GREAT WORK EVERYONE
Updated closing:
I realize it’s not the most politically-sound path to do anything that seems less than extra-punitive when it applies to sex offenders, but the spectrum of individuals who carry this label is as diverse as the population and many are themselves victims of abuse who never received the treatment and education we should instead be advocating. This proposition will only perpetuate the hysteria and irrational downward spiral which will eventually backfire as the public, who increasingly know an offender directly or indirectly, wake up and realize what is happening is not the promise of safety that they were sold. Thank you for your time and I hope you will see this proposed legislation for all its flaws and vote with a resounding NO.
Calling each with the following script. Two have been delivered thus far.
As a United States veteran who holds great concern for the wellbeing of our nation and its people, I often write US Senators and Representatives because of the broad consequences their votes would have on our nation and state.
However, sometimes there are bills proposed in the Great State of Florida which are so egregious that they demand similar attention.
I speak today of SB134 & HB203 which call for “lifetime electronic monitoring of sex offenders.”
Because I myself am a Registrant with a family that I struggle to support and shield from the collateral damage of my label, this piece of legislation hits close to home.
Please allow me to briefly address my concerns with the proposed legislation.
1. It likely violates our constitutional rights protecting from unreasonable search.
On March 30, 2015 the Supreme Court of the US issued an opinion in the case of TORREY DALE GRADY v. NORTH CAROLINA, which asserts that GPS monitoring is considered a search and therefore must be justified as reasonable before it can be considered constitutionally sound.
Any blanket coverage of all those convicted of a sex offense would unquestionably fail the test of reason, making this piece of legislation a prime example of waste in our congressional process.
2. It is clearly based on fear and conjecture rather than empirical evidence, which is apparently the norm for legislation surrounding the overly-stigmatized Sex Offender population.
Spend half an hour on the Internet educating yourself on genuine studies of sex offender recidivism and the complete lack of positive effect our laws have on the matter and I guarantee you will have to question your previously held ideas about what works and what does not work.
On the contrary, I believe you will find that extra-punitive laws such as the restriction on where an individual is permitted to sleep at night have been shown to destabilize individuals by stealing support and hope from them, which increases risk of recidivism. Many states have recognized that these kneejerk laws are damaging and have reformed or are actively reforming these laws.
3. GPS monitoring will not stop a crime. There is zero evidence it ever has.
What logic convinces anyone that it will? If any person is such the insatiable monster some would have you believe, what is a little bracelet really going to do to stop that person? The fact is that 95% of REPORTED sex offenses are committed by someone who is not a convicted sex offender.
If a person has exhibited true and bonafide risk to society, that person should not be tethered to a bracelet, they should be removed from society until qualified psychiatric professionals can make a sound argument that they are safe for release.
4. It does not clarify how a sentence to lifetime GPS happens, what criteria must be met, nor what discretion judges have in the process.
If the legislation proposes that all convicted of a sex offense incur lifetime monitoring, the bill is even more egregious that I interpreted and should be dismissed immediately.
5. It creates a debtors prison at the taxpayers expense. No sane, intelligent person would fail to see that this is nothing more than a lifetime sentence to debtor’s prison since failure to pay monitoring fees to a private company is a felony.
6. And, finally, the worst part about this vindictive and vengeful legislation is that it yet again draws attention and resources away from causes that are genuinely helpful to our people, such as education and abuse prevention, victim support, and rehabilitation and reintegration into society for convicted individuals, which is proven in many studies to be the most significant factor in determining risk of reoffense.
Thank you for your time and I hope you will see this proposed legislation for all its flaws and vote with a resounding NO.
Thank you!!!
Done – is there a way to see who voted and how?
The bill has been tabled till next week there is a video of comments from Senator Diaz de la Portilla and comissioner pepie diez during the session.
http://www.flsenate.gov/media/videoplayer?EventID=2443575804_2015041057
It can be found starting 55 minutes into the video.
What is the location and time of this hearing? Will there be anyone from FAC in attendance? I would like to attend the hearing and meet anyone from FAC that is there. This is the link to the senate web page on the bill (http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2015/0134/BillText/Filed/HTML). If you look closely at lines 26-55 you will see that the senate has been given incorrect and or incomplete information as to recidivism and the reasons for transient registrations.