Reforming Florida’s Sex Offender Registry Laws
Since our lawsuit was filed (maybe coincidence… maybe not), FAC has received a growing number of contacts from members about changes in how some sheriff’s offices handle registration and address verification. We need your help to get a full picture of what is happening across the state. An address verification is supposed to be just that: confirming that you live
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Lawmakers make the rules. Law enforcement carries them out. As we discussed in Florida Registry Enforcement: The Human Side of the Law, “it is the law” should not end the conversation. It should start a question: Is this law making anyone safer? In St. Johns County, the sheriff’s office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement ran Operation Final Match.
Read moreThis morning, another defendant in FAC v Keefe, St. John’s County, announced the results of a compliance operation, this one called “Operation Final Match,” where local deputies “worked with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement” to check in on registered sexual predators and offenders in the area. 23 registrants were arrested. Unfortunately this message won’t reach all 90,000 on Florida’s
Read moreMegan’s Law (1994), the Adam Walsh Act (2006), efforts to require special sex offender license plates, and dozens of other laws restrict the movement, residence, employment, privacy, and every other right of convicted sex offenders. Megan’s Law was sponsored by New Jersey congressman Dick Zimmer, who recently died at age 81. Signed by then-President Clinton, the federal law required states
Read moreThe Gulf County Board of County Commissioners has scheduled a public hearing on a proposed ordinance that would repeal and replace the county’s current Sexual Predator Ordinance. The notice says the new ordinance would set residency restrictions for both sexual predators and sex offenders. That could mean the restrictions reach people the current ordinance doesn’t cover. The notice also lists
Read moreWe are proud to share that FAC’s Change.org petition asking the United Nations to recognize public sex offender registration as a human rights violation has passed 10,000 verified signatures. The petition asks the High Commissioner to investigate the practice of public registration in the United States and take appropriate action. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 5) and the
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