While Other States Roll Back Residency Restrictions, Florida Keeps Tightening Them

In a time when many jurisdictions are rethinking overly draconian residency laws, Florida is heading in the opposite direction — making its buffer zones harsher and more restrictive. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the country, communities are dialing back restrictions over constitutional concerns, lack of housing, and legal risks. Let’s compare what’s happening in Forestville, Wisconsin and Union County, Florida to see

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Senator Cruz Said What Needed to Be Said: It’s Time to Stop Attacking People with the Pedophile Label

When Senator Ted Cruz stated in a recent Senate hearing, “How about we all come together and say, let’s stop attacking pedophiles,” the internet erupted with outrage and mockery. But those who dismissed it as a “gaffe” are missing the larger truth: Cruz gave voice to a deeply uncomfortable but vitally important reality. In America today, the word pedophile has

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Social Media “Predator Stings”: How can this be legal?

Over the last couple of days we’ve written about social media “predator stings”, where private individuals orchestrate these pretend stings seeking to catch people showing up to allegedly meet up with minors. These groups create fake profiles, pose as underage “decoys”, bait people into sexual conversations, lure them to a specific location, and then publicly confront them on video. The

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135 Arrested in ‘Operation Next Door’ Crackdown on Human Trafficking Across Ohio.

135 Arrested in ‘Operation Next Door’ Crackdown on Human Trafficking Across Ohio… at least that’s what the news report from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office is titled. In reality, the headline could have read “How 100 law enforcement agencies spent their week turning massage parlors into headline theaters”. The AG’s press release trumpets the word “human trafficking”, but most of

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“I didn’t wanna play that game anymore”: Actor reflects on target’s death in new “Predator” documentary

The story of Bill Conradt is one of the darkest chapters in the history of the show To Catch a Predator. Conradt was an assistant district attorney in Texas who became the target of a sting operation in 2006. Instead of falling for the bait, he never showed up at the decoy house. That should have been the end of

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Why Sex Offender “Clustering” Happens, and Why Anti-Clustering Laws Make it Worse

For years, legislators have enacted Sex Offender Residency Restrictions (SORRs), prohibiting people on the registry from living within 1,000, 2,000, or even 2,500 feet of places where children congregate, such as schools, parks, playgrounds and daycares. These laws sound simple in theory, but in practice they leave only tiny slivers of land available for housing. The result is predictable: registrants

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