Florida sex offender law: Swimming pool rules spark debate
Florida law already banned sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of schools, parks, and playgrounds. The latest restriction extends that 1,000-foot exclusionary zone to include public swimming pools and splash pads.
The primary House sponsor, State Rep. Rachel Plakon (R-Seminole), stressed that the new law targets specific offenses. As written, it applies to offenders who have committed crimes against a minor. This can include repeat sexual predators as well as individuals convicted of a single offense.
While the bill passed with overwhelming support, a vocal minority of critics — including a handful of state lawmakers, the libertarian Reason Foundation, and some child victim advocates — warn the legislation could backfire and undermine public safety.
Because swimming pools are prevalent in Florida subdivisions, apartment complexes, and mobile home communities, critics argue the law will severely limit compliant housing options.
Critics express severe concern over the real-world impact of the law. House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell said, “Any time that I see that the staff is contradicting what the bill sponsor is trying to do, my antennae go up. … The fact the legislature passed this bill even knowing that there were these concerns should be a red flag to everybody.”
Hanna Liebman Dershowitz of the Reason Foundation stated, “Making it harder for them to get housing is really the opposite of a public safety strategy. It will undermine public safety. You can’t monitor people if they’re effectively off the map.”
Child victim advocate and sex crime survivor Gretchen Casey noted, “Generally, people don’t commit crimes of a sexual nature in public areas, okay. They do it where there is less likely to be, perhaps, a witness.”
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The only hope for these people is to have the Supreme Court declare the registration unconstitutional. I hope that the new attorney will be able to do this. Axe murderers come out of prison and do not have a label, are not forbidden to go near a pool or splash pad. There are pedophiles and then there are hundreds of thousands of Sex Offenders. There is a difference and the law never seems to want to pay attention to the difference.
https://youtu.be/yjqTp-wkG-s?si=_uCXGtrBuRJxoxdV
Fox 13 Tampa Bay’s YouTube channel has a full video and it has a very familiar face in it.
I’m still really confused about a few aspects of this bill…is there anyone that knows the innards of this bill that I could bounce my questions off, please? Thank you
See our previous article on this topic here:
https://floridaactioncommittee.org/notification-of-registrant-restriction-changes/
best source on this is what FAC referred you to. Here is my plain understanding of the bill.
Residency Part.
1. Pre-2004 no residency restrictions
2. 2004 to 2026 if you live in the house you can stay. But if you move, you can not live within 1000 ft of the bills mentioned places.
3. After 2026 you cannot live with in 1000 feet of the bills mentioned places.
Loitering and Prowling Changes: 500 feet now was 300 feet.
1. Applies to all of us
2. Nothing about being in a park, park building, playground (tbh not sure why we would be anyway) Pools, Splash pads etc however,
3. If they are not family: do not look at them, do not nod to them, do not smile in their direction, do not hold the door open for them, and do not speak to them. They are our Kryptonite.
4. If you use a gym with a pool — Ear buds in, music all the way up, and do not speak.
5. If you see a kid drowning in the pool, keep walking and hope he prayed up. Because if you save them, while you will be applauded by the masses, you will have put yourself in direct violation of the law.
FAC if i missed anything please add.
Tearful
Very sad. “If you see a kid drowning in the pool, keep walking and hope he prayed up.” I guess I would have to go to prison because if no one was around I would have to save the child, otherwise I would never sleep again thinking I could have saved a life.
The good news, I am not going to be around that scenario, so it is a moot situation. And yes, even if we do a good deed, it would be overridden by the story of a sex offender being around a kid pretending to save a child. No matter what we do save or walk away, neither is good.
Vegas odds say no matter what we do, we end up on the news or in jail if we try and be a hero.
can someone help me understand, does this law = a person that is on the United States Government Sponsored Hit List in Florida is now prohibited from going to a swimming pool or just interacting with anyone under 18? and does conviction date matter?
Screwed,
You can still go. Just put in your ear buds turn your music up and become a deaf mute. My gym has a pool. So when I go to workout, Its ear buds in, Music up, and talk only to those you know are over 18. There are like 5 people I talk to and I know they are all over 30, 1 over 45 and the guy I go with on M and T is 65.
Other than them I keep my mouth shut.
thanks, THATS WHAT I WAS THINKING BUT WAS NOT 100% SURE!
I just get medicated and make a lounger out of 2 – 3 tubes and float around the lazy river for like 2 hours or so and that’s it and i go when its less busy not on weekends and they have plenty of cameras to protect me from anything false 🙂
yeah I probably would not do that.
That’s crazy we have to live that way. What a time to be alive.
Gotta love how the reporter did not cite the specific legislative analysis source used when on a written article such as this when it is not hard to do so. Lazy reporter at best…a couple links to the legislative analysis and then to the source(s) respectfully would get them more respectability.
The other thought is the sheriff thought it would provide less temptation for those he feels would be tempted by it. Since when has anything like this played into the decision calculus by a person who has a sex crime conviction with a minor involved? We will never know. Political cred is all this is in the end for the sheriff and those who voted for it, not reality, and makes FLA look worse for the wear to all.
For 30 years my wife and I visited Key West. It is extremely irritating that Florida has made it so painful to visit that I wouldn’t even dare to try. A bunch of BS for having a single deleted photo of a nude, possibly 17 year old. F’n plea agreement
Warpath,
What stops you from visiting Key West or any other part of Florida? The new law does not say you can’t visit places.
Every single Session, it seems they always have to float a sex offender bill added into every bill. It will get to the point that we will have to have a chaperon to go anywhere. I truly believe that when I was on probation back in the 2000s, that I had less restrictions than now off probation or any paperwork.
They say that some of these cannot be added retro-actively but at what point do we all just give and not give a crap anymore. You would have to be a scientist to keep up with all these ever bills, legislation and new laws. One foot forward and 5 steps back.