Florida Action Committee (FAC)

The Daily Beast featured a column titled “A Tale of Two Jeffreys“, describing the remarkably different experiences of Jeffrey Epstein from Jeffrey Cole. While both are named Jeffrey and both are labeled “sex offenders”, that’s where the similarities end. We don’t need to re-hash Epstein, but Cole, the story describes, “was convicted in Ohio of a misdemeanor charge of voyeurism

When it comes to large, overlapping exclusion zones and limited housing availability for persons required to register as sex offenders, an inch is as good (or bad) as a mile. In most Jurisdictions, the measurement of an exclusion zone begins at the closest property lines of each of the two properties and in a straight line “as the crow flies”.

Coming Together to Better Support Families of Registrants We recognize the stigma and collateral consequences of the registry and know that families can often feel isolated and helpless. We are planning to hold a family support session in central Broward on Saturday, 9/7/19, 11 am – 1 pm. Attendees can look forward to a confidential and safe space in which

Twenty-five people listed on the state’s lifelong sex offender registry are suing to have their names removed, arguing that it is unconstitutionally cruel. The Columbia Daily Tribune reports that the plaintiffs include a woman barred by her church from a marathon to fight hunger and a man who saw hatred spewed so often his daughter was forced to move and

I participated once again in the SMART symposium. This is an information only presentation intended for law enforcement agencies including the federal Marshall service and local law enforcement agencies around the country to be brought up to date on SORNA. As I expected the information was presented in a manner which paints this as a necessary policy to protect communities

There is no evidence that sex offender laws like the ones in New York keep Americans safer. The laws are predicated on the false notion that sex offenders are exceptionally likely to re-engage in sex crimes. A recent Bureau of Justice Statistics study showed that rape and sexual assault offenders were less likely than other prisoners to be arrested after being released from prison. The laws also assume that sex crimes typically take place between a victim and a stranger — hence the idea that the identity and location of past sex offenders needs to be constantly policed and publicized. This also is not true. Perpetrators of sexual violence are usually people known to the victim.

Sex offender registration laws “aren’t based in any data,” said Erin Harrist, a senior staff attorney at the New York Civil Liberties Union. “They’re just knee-jerk reactions to certain horrible instances.”