Reforming Florida’s Sex Offender Registry Laws
19-year-old Lucas Jones of Indialantic, Florida has been charged with second-degree murder after human remains were discovered in a suitcase in a remote area of Palm Bay known as “The Compound.” Police were first alerted on March 28, 2026, after reports of a suspicious suitcase surrounded by vultures. Inside, officers found human remains, and additional remains were located in a
Read moreThe sex offender registry is supposed to keep kids safe, right? That’s the idea. In reality, across the United States the registry has grown into a massive database with nearly a million names, photos, vehicle descriptions, and an ever-growing list of details the public is expected to somehow sift through and memorize in the name of “safety.” On top of
Read moreThere is a line between public safety and public hysteria. Increasingly, that line is being erased. In recent weeks, that reality played out in stark and unsettling fashion in the United Kingdom. In Aberdeenshire, a home believed to house a man with a past sexual offense conviction became the focal point of a growing mob. What began as anger quickly
Read moreFlorida Representative Rachel Plakon of Seminole County, just handed our state another example of policy making that looks tough but does nothing to keep kids safe. Rep. Plakon was the sponsor of House Bill 45 that expanded residency restrictions to include public swimming pools for people on the sex offender registry and restricting their school access. She sponsored the bill
Read moreThe recent PolitiFact piece examining whether U.S. Senate candidate Michael Whatley (NC) appointed a registered sex offender to a party role is being framed as a political controversy. But it points to something much deeper and far more troubling: the quiet, near-total exclusion of people on the registry from any meaningful participation in civic life, no matter how much time
Read morelorida is overhauling how it handles sex offenders and pretrial detention following the signing of two major pieces of legislation by Governor Ron DeSantis on Tuesday. House Bill 445, officially titled “Missy’s Law,” and House Bill 1159. Under the new rules, anyone found guilty of or entering a plea for a “dangerous crime” must be immediately remanded into custody and
Read more