FAC Weekly Update 2026-05-12-Creating a Separate Class of Citizens
Weekly update for May 12, 2026. This is recording number 370
Dear Members and Advocates,
Every day, headlines announce another “sex offender arrested,” but when you read beyond the headline, the majority of these arrests are not for a new sexual offense at all. They are for “registration violations” – technical infractions that would not even exist as crimes for anyone else in society.
Florida’s registry laws have created an entirely separate class of “crimes” that apply only to people on the registry. A person can be arrested and charged with a felony for failing to report a temporary address change quickly enough, misunderstanding complicated travel reporting requirements, failing to update internet identifiers, or missing one of the many mandatory registration deadlines. These are not crimes because they caused harm to another person. These are not crimes for anyone not on the registry. They are crimes only because Florida has built an expansive and ever-changing web of confusing regulatory requirements that applies to one group of people and one group only.
The sheer level of supervision imposed on registrants is unlike anything experienced by the general public or people who have been convicted of any other category of crime. People are required to report in person every six months, every three months, or even monthly. All are subjected to unannounced home visits for address verification and compliance checks at all hours of the day or night. Law enforcement agencies routinely conduct compliance sweeps targeting registrants. The identities of registrants are publicly promoted online, and law enforcement actively encourages the public to monitor them for possible violations. Anonymous tip hotlines and online reporting portals effectively deputize neighbors and strangers to scrutinize every aspect of a registrant’s life, searching for technical missteps that can result in prosecution.
No other population in society is subjected to this degree of perpetual surveillance after completing their sentence.
At the same time, the restrictions themselves are often so broad and so onerous that compliance can become nearly impossible. Residency restrictions, presence restrictions, employment restrictions, travel reporting requirements, internet reporting rules, and different sets of laws on the state, county and municipal levels create a constantly changing maze that many people struggle to navigate successfully. There are no circles on the ground letting you know where you can and cannot go. There’s no guidance from the FDLE letting you know which internet identifiers are reportable and which are not. And when the State, County or City passes a new rule, there’s no alert that goes out to the 90,000+ people on Florida’s registry letting them know there’s a new requirement they must follow. They are just expected to know about it.
In reality, registrants are frequently placed in impossible situations where ordinary life responsibilities conflict with rigid legal requirements. A person may have to choose between caring for an aging or terminally ill family member and risking a residency violation. Someone may need to accept temporary housing to avoid homelessness, even if it violates a local ordinance. Others face the impossible choice between supporting their family through employment or disclosing it and losing their job altogether. In some cases, compliance with one rule can inadvertently trigger violation of another. The public rarely hears about these realities. Instead, arrest announcements are often framed in ways that create the impression of imminent danger, even when the allegation involves an administrative violation rather than a new criminal offense against another person. The distinction matters. There is a profound difference between someone committing a new sexual offense and someone accused of failing to report information within a prescribed timeframe.
There is also an undeniable reality that bias influences enforcement. Conduct that might be ignored, corrected informally, or overlooked entirely for members of the general public can become grounds for arrest when the person involved is on the registry. Many registrants live with the constant feeling that authorities are not simply monitoring compliance, but actively looking for reasons to arrest them. When law enforcement, the media, and even members of the public are conditioned to view registrants through a lens of permanent suspicion, technical violations become almost inevitable.
And then there are the facts nobody wants to accept… The recidivism rate of registrants is very low. Period. The lowest among all classes of offenses other than murder. And when there is a new arrest, 9 times out of 10 it’s for a technical registration violation – meaning that if they were not on the registry, 90% of the arrests would have never happened. Florida’s registration laws have been amended repeatedly over the years, creating one of the most complicated and punitive registry systems in the country. Yet despite all of this supervision, scrutiny, and criminalization, there is little discussion about whether these policies are actually improving public safety or merely creating a perpetual cycle of surveillance and re-arrest.
This past week we asked you whether Florida is the “worst” state for registrants. We wanted to get a sense of whether the absurdity we see here is simply part of the broader “Florida Man” phenomenon – where extreme laws, overreach, and sensationalism seem to thrive – or whether conditions are truly this bad elsewhere in the country as well. The responses made one thing overwhelmingly clear: while many states impose harsh and often counterproductive restrictions, Florida consistently stands out for the sheer scope, complexity, and punitive nature of its registry laws. From ever-expanding reporting requirements and lifetime public shaming, to aggressive residency restrictions, constant law enforcement scrutiny, and felony penalties for technical violations, many respondents described Florida as operating less like a regulatory system and more like a permanent system of probation and cycle of punishment.
The public deserves honesty when reading these headlines. Many “sex offender arrests” are not new sex crimes at all. They are most often technical violations arising from an impossibly complex system that virtually guarantees failure for people on the registry, no matter how long they have lived offense-free or how hard they try to rebuild their lives. Changing public perception begins with changing the way these cases are discussed and reported. That is where FAC (and by virtue of your membership in FAC, you) can help. First, the media should distinguish between a new offense against another person and a technical registration violation. Headlines that simply announce “sex offender arrested” without context create fear and leave the public believing dangerous new crimes are constantly occurring, when most cases involve paperwork or reporting issues unique to registry laws. When you see such a story in the news, post a comment that says, “this is not a new sex offense, this is an arrest for a technical violation of something that would not even be criminal if this person were not on a registry.”
Second, we need to focus more of our efforts on public education about what registry compliance entails. Most people have no idea that registrants are subject to constant reporting requirements, surprise home checks, internet identifier disclosures, travel restrictions, residency restrictions, and felony penalties for administrative mistakes. Once people understand the sheer complexity of the system, many begin to recognize that technical violations are often a symptom of overregulation rather than evidence of new dangerous behavior. Our Educational team should circulate a list of the hundreds of requirements that appear in the State Statutes, County and City Ordinances. Once the public sees the list of rules and regulations, they will realize how impossible compliance actually is.
Third, conversations must include stories of rehabilitation and successful reintegration. The public rarely hears about the father supporting his family, the person caring for an elderly parent, the worker who has maintained steady employment for decades, or the individual who has remained offense-free for twenty or thirty years. Humanizing people who have rebuilt their lives helps shift the discussion away from permanent fear and toward evidence-based policies that prioritize actual public safety instead of perpetual punishment. We know that most people on the registry, especially those who’ve been lucky enough to not have been violated, try to keep their heads down to avoid becoming a target, but we need more of us who have been successful to become involved and to share your stories, so the public and lawmakers don’t only hear about the arrests, but also about the tens of thousands of people quietly living productive, law-abiding lives every single day. They need to hear about the parents raising children, the employees showing up to work, the business owners paying taxes, the volunteers helping their communities, and the people who have spent decades proving they are far more than the worst thing they have ever done. If you don’t want to put your name out there, have a friend, family or co-worker tell your story for you.
If the only stories the public hears are mugshots and arrest reports, then fear will continue to define the conversation. But when people hear real stories of accountability, stability, growth, and redemption, it becomes harder to justify policies built entirely around perpetual punishment and hopelessness. That is why we encourage members not to only reach out when something bad happens, but also when something good happens. Tell us when you graduate, get married, buy a home, start a business, reconnect with family, complete treatment, earn a promotion, or simply reach another decade offense-free. We need more examples of success because success is the strongest argument against the false narrative that people can never change.
Sincerely,
The Florida Action Committee
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29 years on the registry
Never formally convicted of a crime
No violations since
Successfully Self-employed
Own my home outright
29 years total abstinent from drugs and alcohol
Documentary Film Maker
Accomplished composer and musician
I just published a national policy piece on Mental Health Needs thats being reviewed by senior leadership of an important group representing first responders.
Organized a $20,000 give away for families in crisis.
And more…….
NONE OF THAT MEANS ANYTHING
More often than not, when my status becomes known, it doesn’t matter what I accomplish. I’m still productive and giving because it’s the right thing to do. In all honesty, my steady drum beat of significant accomplishments is a big fat F YOU to the world. I’m going to be an awesome human being and make a difference no matter what. The registry has made me a tough bastard and I don’t quit! Sorry for the anger but it actually animates my determination. I wouldn’t wish life long registry status on anyone. Thank you for this article today! Well done!
None Ya
None of any of the good things we do seem to matter to the law makers, judges and courts. We could be the worst person on the earth, or someone who saved a woman who fell off a building while holding a child and was saved with a net. NONE of that matters to the elites.
It is like the story in Rome back 2000 years ago, where the soldiers treated the poor like poop on the bottoms of their Roman’s shoes, or sent them to jail just for looking at them or worse. Some were even beheaded for taking a piece of bread because they were starving but had no money.
Every law passed, criminal and civil, at all levels of government should require a statement of expectations, the method that will be employed to determine if those expectation were met, and when that measurement must have taken place by, with some sort of reasonable limit (5-10 years). If that expectation is not met, then the law is automatically appealed, not altered. In addition, no new law may be passed with similar language/restrictions. The problem with politicians is, they pass laws and make claims of what the law will do with no consequences when that law driven changes never occur.
ALAN
I do not blame the law makers one bit for causing us great harm and more and more restrictions. (OK WAIT FOR IT)
I blame the judges who allow the lawmakers to get away with what they do to us. It is like a big brother who slaps his little sister and the dad does nothing to stop it, even though the dad knows his son made a really bad decision, but there were no consequences. The judges just sit back and yawn.
Dear FAC,
Thank you for this week’s update. I believe the points raised are not only accurate, but long overdue.
In my personal opinion, many legislators already know very well that Florida’s registry scheme has gone far beyond public safety. They know that thousands of people who have completed their sentences are still being subjected to an expanding system of surveillance, restriction, public shaming, and re-incarceration traps. They know that many so-called “sex offender arrests” are not new sexual offenses, but technical violations created by rules that apply only to people on the registry.
Yet nothing changes.
The reason, in my view, is not ignorance. It is indifference backed by political convenience. Legislators have the support of a frightened society that too often accepts every harsh measure as justified, as long as it is aimed at people labeled “sex offenders.” The public has been conditioned to believe that people on the registry should never have been released back into society in the first place. So when the State creates an avenue to return them to jail or prison through technical violations, many people simply shrug and say, “So be it. They are just sex offenders.”
That attitude is exactly why this system has been allowed to grow unchecked.
People on the registry are treated however the State chooses because society encourages it. The usual principles of fairness, proportionality, due process, rehabilitation, and completed sentences are pushed aside. What would be considered outrageous if applied to any other class of people is tolerated because the registry label makes the abuse politically acceptable.
There is another point that must be stated clearly: those of us forced to register are, in effect, being punished for crimes committed against the named victims used to justify SORNA and related laws. Congress itself declared that SORNA was enacted “in response to the vicious attacks” against Jacob Wetterling, Megan Kanka, Pam Lychner, Jetseta Gage, Dru Sjodin, Jessica Lunsford, Sarah Lunde, Amie Zyla, Christy Ann Fornoff, Alexandra Zapp, Polly Klaas, Jimmy Ryce, Carlie Brucia, Amanda Brown, Elizabeth Smart, Molly Bish, Samantha Runnion, and others.
Those were horrible crimes. No decent person minimizes the suffering of those victims or their families. But the problem is that the law uses those extreme and emotionally devastating cases to justify lifelong burdens on thousands of people who did not commit those crimes, were not involved in those crimes, and may have completed their own sentences decades ago.
That is collective punishment by another name.
Instead of punishing a person only for his own offense, the registry system continually invokes the worst cases imaginable to justify restrictions, surveillance, and felony traps against everyone carrying the label. A man who has lived offense-free for twenty or thirty years is still treated as though he personally represents every named tragedy used to pass these laws. The State points to the most horrifying crimes, attaches that fear to the entire registered population, and then uses that fear to justify never-ending punishment.
That is not individualized justice. That is status-based punishment.
This is why the media’s wording matters so much. When headlines say “sex offender arrested” without explaining that the arrest may involve a technical registration violation rather than a new sexual crime, the public is misled. That misleading fear then becomes the political fuel for more restrictions, more surveillance, and more felony traps.
Florida’s registry system has become less like regulation and more like a permanent secondary sentence. It creates a separate class of citizens, a separate class of crimes, and a separate standard of justice. And society has been persuaded to accept it because the affected group is unpopular.
That is why FAC’s work is important. The public needs to understand that supporting accountability does not require supporting endless punishment. Protecting public safety does not require creating impossible rules that set people up to fail. Honoring victims does not require punishing unrelated people forever. And acknowledging rehabilitation does not excuse past wrongdoing — it simply recognizes that people who have completed their sentences should not be held under a lifelong system designed to keep punishing them.
Respectfully,
Charles D. Gaskin Jr.
Thank you for this. Please consider becoming active in our media committee. We have a desperate need for good writers who, more importantly, understand the issues and can articulate them well so that we can do outreach to media and get more journalists to cover this side of the story.
I would love to be of help in any way possible.
Please contact [email protected] or info@… and tell our Executive Director, Anita, that you want to become involved. We could use all the help that we can get.
Hope you don’t mind; I sent your comments (unsigned) to local media outlets in the Fort Myers, FL area.
They are clearly measured, thoughtful, accurate and clear.
I do not mind at all that my comments have been sent to local media and encourage more to be shared at other locations as well if possible
Charles, you missed the most famous one in history, Adam Walsh. His father, John Walsh became an advocate so strong that he was the host of America’s most wanted. I know you stated “And others” but I think that one fits your list.
Cherokeejack, Thank you for reading the article and for taking the time to share your thoughts. I truly appreciate it. You are absolutely right that Adam Walsh is one of the most well-known and historically significant cases connected to this subject, and John Walsh’s advocacy had a major impact on public awareness, legislation, and the national conversation about child safety.
I certainly did not mean to leave Adam Walsh out or minimize the importance of his case. I am quite familiar with John and Revé Walsh, and I remember watching *America’s Most Wanted* when it originally aired. On a personal note, I actually saw the 1988 episode that featured my father’s escape from Zephyrhills Correctional Institution. That was a very unusual experience, to say the least — seeing a picture of your own father on *America’s Most Wanted* is not something you forget.
The reason I did not mention Adam Walsh in that specific list is because I was referring to the particular names Congress included in SORNA’s declaration of purpose. Adam Walsh’s name is already attached to the broader law itself: the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. So my understanding is that he was not named again in that same section because the Act already bears his name.
That said, I do appreciate you pointing it out. Your observation is a fair one, and it adds important context to the discussion. Thank you again for taking the time to read the article and respond thoughtfully.
Charles
Thank you for the follow up as well. Haven’t seen you on here before. I have been on F.A.C for many years now. Before F.A.C, there was really no one to share our stories with, unless it was at the registration office. I have mostly stopped conversing with most of them because all they do is complain and cuss out the registration employees who are just doing their job.
I have never mentioned this on here but am disabled and was not given proper medical help in prison and nearly died. I finally called my parents and they threatened a law suit and I was moved to a medical facility. If not for that call, I would be dead.
CherokeeJack,
Thank you for your follow-up and for sharing that with me. I truly appreciate it.
I am fairly new to speaking up on F.A.C., but I respect those of you who have been involved for many years. Before F.A.C. and similar groups, there really was almost nowhere for people to share these experiences, except maybe while standing at the registration office. That kind of isolation is part of the damage this system causes.
I am also very sorry to hear what happened to you in prison. Being denied proper medical care to the point that you nearly died is horrifying. No one should have to depend on family members threatening a lawsuit just to receive basic medical treatment. I am glad your parents stepped in, and I am glad you survived it.
As for the registration employees, I understand what you mean about people complaining or taking their anger out at the office. At the same time, I have to be honest: I do believe many registrants view registration employees on a different level than ordinary office workers.
From our side of the counter, they are not just people doing paperwork. They are the face of a system that controls where we live, where we work, when we travel, how we report, and whether a technical mistake can send us back to jail. Whether they are polite or not does not really change the function they serve.
And in some places, my understanding is that not everyone involved in the registration process is even a regular employee. Some are volunteers. That makes the issue even more troubling to me. When someone willingly steps into that role, especially when it involves exercising authority over a group of people already treated as beneath society, it is hard not to see that as part of the problem.
A person can be courteous while still participating in a harmful system. The harm does not disappear because it is delivered professionally. So while my deeper issue is with the laws, the politicians, and the machinery that created this system, I cannot honestly say the people who enforce it are completely separate from the harm it causes.
That said, I do appreciate your point. I also believe our energy is better spent exposing the system itself rather than simply arguing at a registration office. The larger fight is not with one employee or volunteer behind a desk. It is with the legal and political structure that keeps this punishment alive long after a sentence has been completed.
Thank you again for sharing your experience with me. Your story matters, and I respect the years you have spent standing in this fight.
The good, the bad, and the ugly.
As a side note, even though the registry people are part of the sheriff’s office, they are not deputies where I go. And they are nice, but I think they do not like the job because every time I got in, there is almost never the same person doing the registrations.
One time so many employees quit that the deputies WERE actually running the registration desk due to no one to staff registration.
And those deputies were also kind and professional. One time, there was a guy ranting and screaming curse words at the deputy, saying *uck the registry and tore up his paperwork, threw it on the floor and walked out. Do not have an update but never saw that person again. And the deputy never once got mad and just moved onto the next person. But I bet there were consequences later for that guy.
I try and be polite and always thank them for being so professional. So far I have not had any issues at registration or at my house when I get my residence check. Only thing I do not like is, if I am not home, I get a very embarrassing flyer on my front door that can be seen from China, if I am not there. Then I sit around for weeks waiting for them to come back, but then when I give up, they come again. Once it took them 3 months to find me, not my fault as I do not just sit at the house 24-7. Lastly, if I am not home twice, they go to neighbors to ask it they have seen me? Why not just call me because I know they have my phone # on the registration papers.