Fearmongering About Homeless Sex Offenders Ignores the Real Culprit—Bad Laws
The recent City Journal article warning about homeless sex offenders refuses to confront an Inconvenient truth. The very laws sold to the public as “safety measures” are what created this crisis in the first place.
The high percentage of homeless people on sex offender registries isn’t a mystery. It’s not because they’re uniquely dangerous or morally defective, as the article tries to imply. It’s because cities and states have systematically made it illegal for them to live almost anywhere. Residency restriction laws banning registrants from living within 1,000, 1,500, even 2,500 feet of schools, parks, and bus stops effectively wall them out of every affordable neighborhood.
Its these laws that push people onto the streets. The infamous Julia Tuttle Causeway encampment in Miami-Dade County wasn’t some fluke. It was the predictable result of bad policy.
The article blames homelessness on mental illness, substance abuse, and an alleged innate criminality among sex offenders. This is a convenient story for politicians and pundits who built their careers stoking public fear—but it’s a lie.
The simple, uncomfortable fact is that when you legally exclude people from housing and deny them shelter beds, they end up homeless. It’s basic cause and effect.
And let’s be clear: the solutions proposed in the article—tougher parole restrictions, more civil commitment, bans on street camping—would only double down on the failure. How exactly is someone supposed to present a housing plan when every door has been slammed shut by law?
If the City Journal really cared about reducing crime, the best thing it could do is to encourage politicians to ensure people have access to stable housing and support, not force them into tents and underpasses where isolation and desperation grow.
This is not a complicated problem. Politicians created it. Every study points to the same thing: housing instability and public registries make communities less safe, not more. But dismantling this failed system requires politicians and media outlets to admit that the punitive laws they championed for decades have backfired. Instead, we get fearmongering articles like this one, designed to stir panic and justify even harsher crackdowns.
It’s time for the public to see through the scare tactics. Homelessness among registrants isn’t proof that we’ve been too soft—it’s proof that we’ve been reckless, shortsighted, and cruel in ways that harm everyone. The path forward isn’t more punishment. It’s housing, stability, and evidence-based policy that actually works.
Until we face that reality, we’ll keep recycling the same hysteria while the real crisis grows
FAC is asking our members to post your comments on the actual article and write to the editor. We call on our sister organizations to encourage their members to do the same and invite the experts in the field of sex offender management to submit Op-Eds and letters to the editor. Enough with the fear mongering! It’s time to hold politicians accountable for the mess they made!!!
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Let us not forget that “our” own Sheriffs departments are promoting the fear mongering. If you look at the Facebook pages of the different Sheriffs offices and look for the Failure to register posts, You will see quite clearly that the comments are quite violent. The wood chipper seems to be a common solution, as well as lock them up for life, short piece of rope and a tall tree….. I could go on. Since the Sheriffs offices allow these comments and do nothing about enforcing their own social media guidelines I would consider that to be proof that they support punitive measures and a case that they are encouraging vigilantism could be made.
It might be that their inaction to police their own comments sections could be used to show that they are encouraging illegal use of the registry.
Keep’mon registry as long as it takes..Thank you
Soon I will be homeless and no one gives a dam to help anyone who is a registered sex offender, but a murderer, theif, or drug dealer not only gets help but also a pay check from the state for not doing anything. Even illegal aliens get treated better than those of us on SORT.
If I am arrested as a homeless sex offender then I will go on a hunger strike.
Hell I will day in a week or two after becoming homeless because of my medical issues and since my neighbors will be stealing my belongings I don’t want to live any longer anyway
@Robert Edwards
As I live and breathe, right now I am praying for you. I pray blessings, healing, hope, success, love and a hedge of protection over you. God knows your heart and even though the enemy is attacking us all on a daily basis, He tells us to stay strong in the Lord and take comfort in His strength.
Agreed, but these arguments will ultimately fall on deaf ears. There are no signs of the registry going away and they only want to make punishments and restrictions that much more hostile. I don’t know the solution.
Registry should never go Away… public must be informed
We need a troll registry too.
In Wakulla CI..😆
@CRB
Thankfully you have little sayon the matter than your personal opinion. A judge, the Supreme court, or the legislators are who decide if there is a registry or not. And Defense lawyers, F.A.C and other advocates help getting us more relief, otherwise all of us would probably be locked up.
You have your right to an opinion but probably none of us on F.A.C have ever met you and have done nothing to you to deserve your animosity. More and more registries are falling as lawyers prove this is extended punishment and only a matter of time until registries are deemed punitive in nature.
I do not wish my worst enemy on a registry and if one of your relatives got put on it, you would be devastated, not bashing all of us.
Title: Facing the Facts: Challenging Misleading Narratives About Sex Offenders and Homelessness
By a Member of the Florida Action Committee
A recent article in City Journal painted a disturbing picture: that individuals on the sex offense registry are a major driver of homelessness, and that most are serious repeat offenders posing persistent threats to society. As members of the Florida Action Committee (FAC), we believe in truth, humanity, and justice—not fear-based exaggeration that further marginalizes our community.
Let’s address two of the article’s most damaging claims.
1. Registry Composition: “Most Are Serious Offenders”
The City Journal article claims that the majority of individuals on registries committed serious crimes. Yet it fails to cite meaningful evidence. In reality, research consistently shows that sex offender registries include individuals whose cases span a wide spectrum:
Consensual relationships between teens, often classified as statutory offenses.
Public exposure or urination, criminalized as indecent conduct.
Possession-only offenses, involving no direct victim contact.
In fact, the U.S. Department of Justice and numerous state audits have confirmed that many registrants do not pose a high public safety risk. Yet all are subjected to the same harsh labels, barriers, and banishment. Sweeping generalizations like those in City Journal do nothing to protect public safety—and everything to feed a punitive, unscientific system.
2. Recidivism: “Repeat Offenses Are Common”
The article suggests low recidivism statistics are unreliable because of underreporting. This is misleading and dangerous. The DOJ’s own landmark study found:
> “Only 5.3% of sex offenders released from prison were rearrested for a new sex crime within three years.”
— U.S. Department of Justice (2003)
Subsequent meta-analyses confirm that sex offense recidivism is among the lowest across all offense types. A 2014 Canadian study reported a long-term recidivism rate of just 13.7%—still dramatically lower than other crimes.
Fear-based narratives persist not because they are true, but because they are politically convenient.
3. The Real Crisis: Housing and Human Rights
We agree that homelessness is a growing crisis. But scapegoating registrants won’t solve it. In fact, residency restriction laws, shelter exclusions, and banishment zones are proven contributors to homelessness among this population.
Instead of fearmongering, let’s talk solutions:
Repeal counterproductive residency restrictions that prevent stable housing.
Allow shelter access without blanket bans.
Invest in reintegration programs that reduce re-offense risk and restore dignity.
Conclusion: Words Matter—So Let’s Use the Right Ones
FAC advocates for language that restores humanity: person-first language, not permanent stigmas. “Sex offender” is not an identity—it’s a label that too often replaces facts with fear.
We urge journalists, policymakers, and community members to seek truth, not tropes. We are your neighbors, family members, veterans, and workers—people trying to rebuild our lives.
Let’s move forward together, not backward in fear.
If I could toggle the Thumbs UP widget for this post, I’d do so. @Chuck T wrote it very well for all to understand.
You should post this on the article
AND, you know why there are so many registered persons that are homeless? Plain and simple, residency restrictions for where you can and cannot live. Some cities have made it to where there is no place to live and kick these people down the road to the next town, the woods, behind a dumpster etc.
We all did our time and should be able to move on and live our lives with our families. Sadly, many have opted to go back to prison where are least they can get three meals a day and a somewhat clean bed and a place to take a shower.
Amen.