Do Harsh Laws on Sex Offender Homes Do Any Good?
Some 70 paroled child sex offenders, now living in a flimsy village of tents, cardboard boxes and rusty campers in an industrial zone just east of Miami International Airport, were told this month they had to find a new home yet again. Because most South Florida counties and cities have laws designed to keep them far from children, the options for moving are few and far between.
The forced nomadic existence creates a host of challenges for law enforcement agencies charged with keeping track of offenders. Those problems raise questions about the accuracy and effectiveness of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s sex offender registry, which was touted to inform the public about potential risks from sex predators. Studies suggest harsh living restrictions and registries have not been effective. A 2015 study of adult sexual offender management by the U.S. Department of Justice concluded that despite broad public support, residency restrictions may do more harm than good. Jill Levenson, a Barry University sociologist who conducted a similar study, concluded that residency restrictions are more likely to increase the number of times convicted offenders repeat a sex crime. Police lose track of hundreds of sex offenders.
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How long is it going to be before there is a devils island for al SO’s this has happened in history for a different reason but the outcome was the same
I have tried to post a comment on the Miami Heralds site. As most must be aware facebook prohibits registrants from setting up a page. I have sent a request to the editor to allow other options rather then just the facebook plug in so that registrants as myself can participate in these very important issues effecting our life.
I’ve come here, to the FAC blog, to pound out on my keyboard retorts triggered by false accusations found on news websites. To vent.
Some days, like yesterday and today, I rant, posting seemly same material. Some the moderators post others they just dismiss. But I get it as do they, I’m banging out frustrations, anger and rage. In the end is a finished product. Like this submitted to the Editor of the Miami herald:
My response to those advocating restrictions on places of residency and the many other supervision requirements being imposed on freemen in a free society is simply this. The unregistered pedophile larking within your family or circle of friends is by far the greatest threat to your child. This is an undeniable fact. Just ask Mr.Ron Book.
As for me, I am a freeman living in a free society. My success and failures are mind and mind alone. I am unbound except for my self-imposed limitations. As a freeman I am guided by my conscious and the understanding between right and wrong. No Government imposed regulation will prevent a freeman in a free society from doing wrong.
This ordinance is a punishment illegally enacted by the County, that power reserved to the State. If this ordinance is consistent with the personal liberty of citizens, why may not the County impose a residency restriction where African Americans, Hispanics, gay men or women may reside? If there is no “Right” or protected liberty interest reserved to the people in changing one’s situation, (whether it be residency, employment, or educational), of (at) their own free will and inclination, then there can be no claim of discrimination. We all share the same (or the lack of) liberties.
This personal liberty interest of changing one’s residency is so do deeply rooted in our nation’s history and traditions, the very essence of freedom should not be infringed unless as punishment for a crime.
Gave public danger is said to result from what these sex offenders, these monsters are expected to do. If we were to assume that they are disposed to commit every opportune sexual act, it is still difficult to reconcile with traditional American law and values, the BANISHMENT of persons by the County because of anticipated, yet uncommitted crimes. BANISHMENT, to protect society from predicted but unconsummated offenses is unprecedented in this Country.
This is not about public safety. This is about vengeance. Just ask Mr. Ron Book.
Obviously as a registered person I’m against the residency restrictions that have made these people’s lives far worse than need be.
As a person I hate to see these people suffer when there could be options in place to help lift them up instead of holding them down.
Unfortunately much of society will not care and even go so far as to say either lock them back up, send them if to an island, or put a bullet in them all.
Without going to deep, as citizens of this country we are supposed to have unalienable rights to life. The 14th amendment changed that to mean not if you are in prison. Now the restrictions in place that governs many of us, void both of those and say essentially we have no rights.
There are so many things said like why can’t they just move?
Life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
But not for us.
Good morning out there hoping everyone has a very productive rewarding and wonderful day.
Source: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article237545129.html
This seems a repeat of the other article post:
Miami-Dade uproots sex offender camp yet again. Does harsh law really make public safer?
https://floridaactioncommittee.org/miami-dade-uproots-sex-offender-camp-yet-again-does-harsh-law-really-make-public-safer/
Thank you, JZ, for posting this link to the Miami Herald story. Even though Ben Conarck was not given credit as author of this article, he did have some input. This journalist, from everything I saw with him when he was with the Jacksonville Florida Times Union, is worthy of our acquiring a positive, professional relationship with him. I just sent a lengthy email to him, disagreeing with his classification of registrants as pedophiles.
I also gave him data showing the relatively low recidivism rates for registrants. I am no longer just quoting the really low rates often used from studies for three years or for nine years after release from prison. I am finding that people who truly do care what research says, are also looking at the recidivism rates 10 and 20 years out, where, of course, the overall rates continue to rise, but at a steadily decreasing rate per year, eventually going to zero.
As we continue to understand the power of “strength in unity” or “power in numbers”, it is important for as many as possible to contact Ben at [email protected]. It is difficult for a single journalist to know everything, and this is a new area for Ben. He does listen. After all, he responded when so many of us contacted him concerning the homeless situation in Miami. His response to my email asking for an investigation of this situation was immediate, as I think it was to some others in our group who emailed him. In fact, he has been the only media source that has ever contacted me back once I notify the outlet of a possible story to help our cause.
Please contact him and, of course, correct any misinformation that you read, but this is a journalist that we need to treat with the greatest respect. It will help our cause in the long run.
Please do not get discouraged. A lot is going on in our state that most of us know nothing about. Eventually the dominoes are going to start falling. Some of us were able to hear from the man who headed up the voting rights amendment for returning citizens. He stated what I stated previously at this website: His group did consider including registrants and murderers in the amendment, but polls showed that it would not pass. He stated that they are not done with their work–they are continuing on with further work in the voting rights area. It has taken them 8 to 9 years to get where they are now, and they are not done. He stressed that what helped the most was their stories concerning not being able to vote. We need Ben Conarck to help us, over time, tell our stories of how the registry, statutes, and ordinances are working against us as continuing punishment as we are working hard to successfully reintegrate back into society.
You are welcome SarahF. Thanks to you for the info on Ben. It’s hard not to get discouraged, but I try to take one day at a time and hope for a better tomorrow.
Great job SarahF and JZ. I think the most important thing we can do in this war is get the media to tell the truth and stop blinding reporting big government propaganda and things just to make the clueless public feel good. Most people support Registries because it makes them feel good and they believe it will make people think better of them. If they come to believe that people will think less of Registry Nazis/Supporters, as everyone should, they’ll stop supporting it. Their egos are the most important things in the world. Much more important than any children.
Regarding recidivism rates, I have not read all of your discussions about it so I may be out of your loop. But, I would focus less on recidivism rates and more so on the fact that Registries, and especially idiocy like “residency restrictions”, increase them. It doesn’t matter what the recidivism rate is, Registries make it worse.
Registries are just idiotic social policy that people need to fantasize does something useful. And half the Nazis don’t care regardless, they are happy just to be harassing people.
Good point, Will Allen.
Ron Book is now claiming he is ‘securing a building” in an “unincorporated area.”
My questions —
Will he call it Bookville?
Will it be a concentration camp? It would be ironic since the two top dogs in the Homeless Trust are both Jewish (supposedly Ron is Jewish as is Lauren).
Fuck Ron Book/Crook. I wonder if he was sober when they interviewed him.
And Lauren Book/Crook is simply a criminal. How dumb do you have to be to vote for and lobby to have taxpayer money sent to your own charity? That ought to be illegal. But these two will fleece taxpayers always.
People should attack them incessantly. They’re crooks.
If Ron Book is trying to secure a building for these homeless individuals, it might be indicative of the fact that he is finally being forced to respond to all of the negative publicity Miami has been receiving on this issue for a long time. So maybe there is a small ray of hope here. The pressure needs to be kept up on him.
He is trying to get a building for his client GEO Group to run as an institution-like facility.
I am desperate for these guys and will presently take what I can get. But could this hurt them or us in the long run? Possibly.
So Book lobbied to legislate these people into homelessness, is now lobbying for one of his clients to profit from their homelessness, and justifies it all by referring to them as “monsters.”
Do I have that right?
Yes, you have it exactly right. Drunken Ron Book/Crook will ALWAYS be trying to line his pockets. He’s immoral.
There is no need to be nice to anyone who supports Registries. These people are immoral, criminal, anti-American harassers who deserve to be attacked all the time. Every day that Registries exist, these Nazis should be attacked. So how about we give the Nazis some labels? They want to call people “pedophiles” who are not pedophiles. They want to call people “predators” or “$EX offenders”. If they are being “nice” they just call a person an “offender”. When the only offenders around are themselves.
So let’s give them some labels and use them all of the time. I think a huge part of this war is propaganda. So let’s attack them. I propose that we call this guy “Drunken Ron Book/Crook” all the time. Then if a person searches for “Ron Book”, they will find that all over. “Lauren Book/Crook” seems good.
It’s way past time to stop being nice and treating these people as if they matter.
So Miami will be the test site for the nation’s first “Sex Offender Gulag.” And once again, Ron Crook will fill his pockets with taxpayer (our) money. Isn’t that just peachy.
The next time Ronnie boy is interviewed, he should be asked what he thinks about all the teenagers who sexted and are now on the registry as adults for that. And about men/women on the registry because of mid-teens lying about their age because they know they can pass for legal age due to their physical appearance. Since he seems to think every person on the registry is there for the same type of offense that happened to his little princess.
The island thing for sex offenders, ones who have committed actual real crimes against another individual has already been going on in Washington state for years and years. McNeil island. Vice news did a whole show on it. If you think Florida is bad, take a look at the illegal proactive stings run in Washington state. With the mandatory minimum sentence of 58.5 months to LIFE in prison. Determined by and ISRB (Indeterminate sentence review board ) A crime created by the DOJ, MECTF, WSP and ICAC. No victim, no anything. But if you step outside your house, in Washington state you’ve taken a ” substantial step” , your automatically guilty. With every conviction, they get 100,000.00$$ in grant money. These stings are or where, run on Craigslist, in a adults only forum. The whole thing is a lie, from start to finish. Courts won’t allow entrapment defense strategy to be used, which it absolutely is. Florida may have some heanous laws, but at least something is being said and a voice heard. If only Washington state could have a voice, someone to right the wrong done by the police and other law enforcement agencies. Oh, and the law used for sentencing, was created well before the internet was even invented yet. How’s that for justice??
Yes, I have heard of McNeil. I believe it is a civil commitment facility. We have one in Arcadia, Floriduh. But what Ron Crook is trying to do amounts to false imprisonment. He wants to round up and incarcerate homeless people who are now longer under parole, probation, or community control, but are required to register as “Sex Offenders,” under the guise of “helping” them. What a load of bollocks!
My response to those advocating the registry, restrictions on places of residency and the many other supervision requirements being imposed on freemen in a free society is simply this. The unregistered pedophile larking within your family or circle of friends is by far the greatest threat to your child. This is an undeniable fact.
As for me, I am a freeman living in a free society. My success and failures are mind and mind alone. I am unbound except for my self-imposed limitations. As a freeman I am guided by my conscious and the understanding between right and wrong. No Government imposed regulation will prevent a freeman in a free society from doing wrong