Could your real estate agent be a sex offender?
Really Palm Beach Daily News? Is your shaming article necessary?
Wouldn’t you want someone convicted of an offense in the past to be doing better now? To have a profession, earn a license, become a productive member of their community? All your article does is seek to bring down a handful of people who are doing nothing other than trying to do their job and support their families.
Also, you COMPLETELY misapplied the recidivism statistics. The actual re-offense rates for people on the registry is in the single-digit percentage. Why not write a story called “could your real estate agent be a drug dealer” or “could your real estate agent be an armed robber” because both those crimes have much higher recidivism rates?
If anyone wants to share their thoughts with the journalist, please do: Wendy Rhodes. 561-820-3864. [email protected]
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I also contributed my thoughts, much of which was already much more eloquently stated by others who have written. Thanks to all who wrote!!!
This was my contribution:
I am writing in response to your recent article covering the topic of registered persons as real estate professionals.
The article was an interesting read with a very attention grabbing headline, I must say. You are absolutely right regarding the fact that some real estate professionals might be potential sex offenders, but not for the reasons you might think. As you mentioned in the article, reoffense rates for those on the registry are low, which means that the vast majority of sexual crimes are being committed by persons with no known offense history. This means that screening out people on the registry would not be a very effective tool in ensuring the safety of individuals in any situation or profession. To illustrate my point, the incident you referenced in your article regarding the assault committed by the Orlando real estate agent reported no known sexual offense history on the perpetrator.
As an advocate for the homeless, I have interacted with and have had the privilege to know many persons on the registry, the vast majority of whom are seeking to rebuild their lives and move beyond their pasts. It is shameful when we as a society don’t give them that chance after they have paid for their crimes. This type of perpetual shaming is not what this country stands for and I believe even those who have committed serious offenses have the ability to lead transformed lives, if they have been granted the opportunity to do so by our justice system through the completion of the terms of their sentences.
So much human potential goes to waste when we tie a virtual ball and chain around individuals, regardless of their individual circumstances. I grieve what we’ve lost as a nation because of our stubborn attitudes toward former offenders in this regard. Have you taken the time to get to know some people on the registry? They have names, not just mugshots. They often have families that depend on them as well. If we throw away these persons, we also torpedo their families. Do we really want to punish them also? I suggest you read about some of their stories so that your future reports on the subject matter may be better informed.
I look forward to reading future reports on the subject.
Sincerely,
[Name Withheld]
This is EXCELLENT!!! Thanks, as always!
This is a well-written letter. I would love to see it on the editorial page of all the major state newspapers.
Epic.
Thank you sir
I just emailed my letter to Ms. Rhodes.
Here’s my comment I posted on the article:
Perhaps, Ms. Stilwell, esteemed board member of her HOA in Wellington, should take the time to run background checks on all board menbers, residents of the area and anyone wishing to do any type of work whatsoever in the close knit community. It would probably also be a good idea to run a check on anyone who just doesn’t fit in or who others don’t like. I believe that those that have paid their dues should be given a second chance. Public shaming causing the loss of jobs over hysteria often brought on by media reports is not the right direction. Research will show that ex offenders have a very low rate of recidivism. I wonder if Ms. Stilwell realizes how many children are on the list of almost 1 million sex offenders in this country? How many are on the registry for decades old offenses? How many had no physical contact with anyone? How many lives must be ruined by alarmists. Such actions not only impact the ex offender but their families as well. The article serves no purpose, in my opinion, except to fan the flames instead of helping put the fire out.
This is my letter to the writer of the article:
Wendy, first of all I would like to congratulate you on your job with the Palm Beach Post. It is a responsible position in which you can exert much influence. I believe that it is good for all folks to have good jobs and be able to support their family and society responsibilities and obligations. Our nation is great because of those kinds of people.
Now, I must warn you that I do like to write and that I do get a bit verbose at times especially when I have something important to write about…your article elicits such a reason to write. It’s good that you have the opportunity to write such an article but it would be so much more effective if you educated yourself on the subject before putting ‘pen to paper’…or whatever reporters do nowadays. While I can in no way support the possession of child pornography, I do know that any victims so involved will still be victims whether or not the property manager had any. Sometimes an inadvertent click of a button can put you on the computer where you do not want to go and permanently deleting sometimes requires a ‘rocket scientist’. Having been the ERB chair in my HOA I doubt they did not like him because of his ‘unknown’ sex offense record, but because he was requiring the residents to comply with the deed restrictions…I know from experience. By the way, that 1,000 foot rule makes no one any safer. If a sex offender is going to commit an offense, he/she is not going to walk across the street to do it. And as is well documented, most sex offenses are done by family members, school teachers, close associates, someone met on vacation, etc, etc…and not someone on the registry. There are very few “Jack the Rippers” out there.
You mention maps about where sex offenders live, but nothing about where they work. By the way the term “Sex Offender” is a misnomer…that is someone who wakes up in the morning, preps, and goes out looking for a victim. Those on the registry hardly fit that category. They are just someone who committed one of the variety of offenses clumped into the category of ‘sex offense’. 97% are people who have accepted responsibility for their failures, paid the price…and are still paying it, and just want the opportunity to get on with a life of responsible citizenship. Getting a job and reintegration plays a big part in this effort…the registry does not. Where a person who committed a sex offense lives or works is really quite irrelevant.
You mention Peter Cruise, a Palm Beach County ethics commissioner…whatever that is…and a director at Florida Atlantic University. He says, “If we’re dealing with a crime like a sex offense, that’s a very serious thing.” He is part of the problem going about spewing misinformation. The variety of potential sex offenses are such that very few fall into the “very serious thing” category. What is serious is when an individual’s life and the life of his/her family is destroyed because of a society that has bought the paranoia and false information distributed by people who do not know what they are talking about or who make a living on degrading others and then pretending to care about the ‘victims’…follow the money trail.
You discuss the stories of two individuals who committed heinous offenses related to sex. I am always grieved to see such stories, as are the vast majority of those who have committed a sex offense. We know those stories will reflect negatively whether deservingly or not. Then you go on to say that two-thirds of sex offenders are arrested a second time within nine years of their release from prison. You fail to explicitly mention that few of these rearrest are for a sex crime…many are related to some ‘off the wall’ technicality or to a condition brought about by joblessness or homelessness. The recidivism rate for sex offenses is 3.9%. Only murderers can top that. By the way you mention ‘background checks’. I call them ‘badground checks’ since they, like many ‘do-gooders’ in society, only look for the bad in others…known as the ‘thermo effect’; pass the heat.
At this point I suppose I should tell you somethings about myself so you can understand why I would take the time to write so much. I am a retired Navy captain; I grew up in a Navy family; I enlisted in the Navy in 1962; I was appointed to the US Naval Academy by President Kennedy and graduated with a degree in aeronautical engineering; I went to flight and aircraft maintenance schools; I served on four aircraft carriers, three air stations; on an admiral’s staff, at the pentagon…aircraft maintenance policy, and at the Naval Air Systems Command. I retired after 29 years total service. My wife retired from the Navy after 20 years and three years later cancer claimed her life. I did not accept it well at all. I went through four years of depression before my ‘life’ caught up with me. I now live in Florida…my retirement home, and am active in the community, the HOA, write a weekly blog, research for a book on aviation history that I plan to write, restore old aircraft, and dabble with model aircraft building and model railroading. And oh, by the way, I am an ex-offender who committed a sexual offense and was released from probation eleven years early. During my extensive evaluation before my release it was determined that I was less likely to ever commit another offense than even the ‘average Joe’ on the street who had never committed an offense. You are more likely to be offended by the person who works next to you in your office.
You seem to focus your article on the prospective dangers of a sex offender being a real estate agent and totally overlook the possibilities that represent much more of a threat…bugler, armed home invader, armed carjacker, drug dealer, embezzler, thief, etc…all of whom for the most part represent more of a threat than a person with a past sex offense…and those aforementioned are not on a registry. Have you ever thought of writing articles about people who have overcome their failures and became productive community and family members? That is what God would call us to do. A great American president, Abraham Lincoln said, “My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.”
Wendy, focusing on restoration as a news person just may be one of the greatest contributions you can make to society. Write stories about those who have overcome failure. You have the platform…maybe you might want to use it.
Charles R. “Bob” Munsey Jr.
Absolutely fantastic!
The Florida Times Union, Jacksonville newspaper, would probably print your letter on the editorial page. (My guess is that most other major newspapers in the state would also print it.)
If you feel led to do so, send it to [email protected]. His number is 904-359-4307.
Sarah, I sent it to both the Florida Times Union and Orlando Sentinel. I do not believe in ‘hiding in the shadows’. If my background and experience can help/encourage someone, then I go for it.
The Palm Beach Daily News should definitely be printing it in their editorial section, if they truly believe in freedom of speech.
Thank you, Bob. I will be watching for it.
Sent her/them an e-mail i hope they read it it truly sucks that someone who is on the registry actually got hired and now they have to tear them down
I ran across this report several years ago and I had problems with it then as I have problems with it now.
Report states
Two-thirds of sex offenders are arrested a second time within nine years of their prison release, a May 2019 report by the U.S. Department of Justice says. And while sex offenders are less likely than other released prisoners to be arrested again for any crime, they are three times more likely to be arrested for rape or sexual assault. Seems at best contradictory, at worst an obfuscation of facts.
This paragraph seems to contradict itself. The first sentence seems to imply a 67% recidivism rate; the second sentence would seem to imply s low recidivism rate and that of that low number, the percentage rate for sexual assault is 3 times the rate of say rearrested drug dealers. Let us say, there are 3 of every 10 re-arrested sex offender who again sexually assault someone, then for every 10 rearrested drug dealers, there may be 1 who is rearrested for sexual assault. But this does not compare the total number of individuals who are rearrested and seems more an oranges to apples comparison.
I would appreciate someone explaining this report to me. The report seems to be a reason for this reporter to be writing this article, maybe because it is so confusing.
BTW, I have a degree in Math and have worked with numbers all my life and still don’t understand it.
The Two-Thirds is an interpretation of a number that is not a re-offense statistic.
When anyone considers the term “recidivism” they need to consider only a subsequent sexual offense (that number is less than 5%, not a technical violation of one of the multitude of additional restrictions that don’t apply to non-registrants).
Correct. That is where the 3 times more likely to re-offend statistic comes from. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 5% of former sex offenders sexually re-offend. This is compared to about a 1.8% sexual offense rate for others released from prison. When people use the 3 times argument they fail to point out how low the actual number is.
Many people get glassy-eyed when the see a percent sign and fall asleep at the mention of comparative statistics. They don’t need to get off the couch or even press a button on the remote to understand “3 times as likely.” Fear mongering is so easy!
The reporter who wrote the article, and her editor, need to be inundated with mail. Only posting here is just preaching to the choir.
Veritas