Reforming Florida’s Sex Offender Registry Laws
At sentencing, most people convicted of a sexual offense are ordered to participate in therapy as a condition of release. In many jurisdictions, the therapist is not chosen by the individual, nor by any careful assessment of therapeutic compatibility. Instead, treatment providers are often selected through government contracts, with probation offices referring participants to whichever program was the lowest bidder.
Read moreFor years, advocates, including FAC, have encouraged the use of person-first language when talking about people on the sex offense registry. Instead of labels like “sex offender,” terms such as “registered citizen” or “person forced to register” have been used in an effort to reduce stigma and remind the public that people are more than the worst thing they have
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 moreA study, currently under review, concludes that registries obscure sexual recidivism risk. The citation to the study is: Hanson, R. Karl, German Marquez Alcala, and J. J. Prescott. “UNDER REVIEW (submitted July 7, 2025, to Psychology, Public Policy, and Law). The conclusion is: There is no evidence,however, that current public sex offender registries contribute to community safety. One reason they
Read moreThe maintenance of a public sex offense registry has been codified as a non-punitive civil policy since the 2003 Supreme Court case of Smith v. Doe. But since then, sex offense registries have transformed from a centralized state repository of information to a sprawling digital archive of personal data about people required to register. We identify and report the current
Read moreCrime is not gender-neutral, according to Franca Cortoni. Women commit far fewer sexual offenses than men, and their risk of re offending after returning to the community is also much lower. A new meta-analysis based on data for 4,208 women shows a recidivism rate of just three per cent over 15 years. You can read the full study here.
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