The following is an update from an advocate in Georgia. If anyone is in Georgia and would like to be connected with the advocate group there, please reach out to [email protected]
Here’s an update on Georgia HB 720 which would require Judges to issue mandatory lifetime probation sentences upon conviction of a 2nd sexual offense. It would also make it lawful for Sheriffs to put signs on registrants property on and before Halloween.
The bill passed today 98-63.
There was nearly 30 minutes of discussion both for and against. I helped my representative (Kennard) craft a great opposition speech. In the end, we just didn’t have the votes to stop this in the House.
The bill now moves on to the state Senate. My plan is to remind the Senators that this bill does not implement any of the findings that came out of their own study committee last year. I also plan to get the Department of Community Supervision to publicly oppose the bill.
If anyone would like to, you can view the livestream here (begins at 1:01:40):https://livestream.com/accounts/25225474/events/8824297/videos/202832129
Having had to endure bureaucrats for four years while I did two tours of duty in DC, encourages me to want to get into their ‘knickers’ at every opportunity. There is nothing more beautiful than a ‘pissed-off’ /’outwitted’/’embarrassed’ bureaucrat. If they are going to make our lives miserable, then that is the least we can give back to them.
I was thinking back to my day is in law school 30+ years ago and something occurred to me regarding the Halloween signs. As many of us have discovered, the law can be somewhat nonsensical. When I was taking property and land use law classes, the professors told us that the courts have bent over backwards in the past to help the government when it comes to regulating the use of your property. There were numerous cases where the government, for environmental reasons or others, had affectively legislated away the intended use Of people’s property to the point where about all they could do was stand on it and go wow it’s really pretty here. That was not considered a “taking“ with that said, one case I distinctly remember involved a cable television company in New York in the 1970s where the city at authorized the cable company to run cable onto a bunch of apartment buildings. For some reason one owner Did not want cable on his property at all no matter what. The city argued that this was not a taking and he argued that it was. The courts determined that the city granting their franchisee the right to that 1/4 of an inch wide easement on the building was in fact a taking that had to be compensated after going through the justice system. Yes, this is a very obscure case that in most instances You would’ve never heard about. But riddle me this. If Georgia passes a law that allows may requires a sheriff to come onto your property and put a sign in it on Halloween, how would that really differ from the cable case? Is the legislature attempting a taking, I’ll be at a temporary one every year, without any provisions for due process? This may sound trivial, but in my opinion, you have to attempt to make the powers that be‘s lives as difficult as they are trying to make ours. In the case of registered sex offenders, these guys can get away with almost anything as far as the public is concerned, so you almost have to figure out what is painful to them. Repeatedly losing in court strikes me is one thing that they really don’t like
Could you folks let us know who some of these Georgia advocates are? As best as I can tell, if you were convicted before 2003, Georgia laws are much less draconian than Florida. My recollection is that they basically had their backside handed to them by their own state courts and the federal courts around 2010 and had to rewrite their laws. The most important outcomes for people convicted before 2003 was that most of the crazy ex post facto residency restrictions in the perhaps even more insane restrictions on where you could work were declared to be something resembling punishment. My recollection is that they also completely removed the Internet identifier requirements from their laws. I may be wrong but if that is the case, that alone would be a drastic improvement over Florida in that you couldPerhaps conduct some kind of a little business on the Internet using a fictitious name without being cyberstalked and shut down. Of course the bad news is there anyone convicted after 2003 and particularly after 2006 really really doesn’t want to be in Georgia. I would particularly like to find out some more information about the backlog in the level determination process. In theory anyone other than a level III/predator who has been off sanctions for at least 10 years is eligible for removal by the courts in Georgia. With that said, I have seen comments from the various and sundry lawyer websites in Georgia to say it might benefit you to also be leveled. So once again, does anyone know the names of any advocacy groups in Georgia that might be able to direct some of us to sources of information and assistance?
Looks to me like things in Georgia are better for those convicted prior to July 1, 2008. Perhaps this date would serve as a cut off for application of any other SO laws passed in Georgia as well.
https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/2014/title-42/chapter-1/article-2/section-42-1-15/
MY GOD! The penalties for violating any of their offender ordinances are 10 times worse than what I got for an actual charge.
(g) Any individual who knowingly violates this Code section shall be guilty of a felony and shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than ten nor more than 30 years.
* This includes just walking past a school
Wake up people, they just want us ALL back behind bars because they feel we should all have been given life for any accusations.
Because they lost those cases in state and federal courts back in like 2010 and 2011 Georgia affectively has at least three and maybe four different sets of restrictions that they apply to registrants. I guess now, assuming that they continue to abide by the court decisions, if these new laws pass, they may end up with four or five different sets of restrictions to apply.
Reality and facts are not relevant to the abuse of registered American citizens. This punishment has one purpose – to serve as a visual warning to the general population of just what the government CAN and WILL do to you if they choose to.
It is has nothing to do with child or public safety and everything to do with political manipulation. Facts are not going to change this. They never have mattered and they will not matter in the future.
The USA is not run on truth or even reality – just look out your window for confirmation of this!
To Steven Sainz:
GPS for twice convicted…. twice almost zero recidivism rate is still zero. Putting GPS’s on those NOT convicted will not result in more safety.
Ga is at least 7 years behind on leveling offenders.
Under 16 cannot consent to sex but, as we all know, can be tried as an adult. Hypocrisy.
To Gregg Kennard:
Restrictions to living within anything only increase someone’s want to commit other crimes.
95+% of new sex crimes are by those KNOWN to the victim (parents, teachers, coaches, law enforcement, clergy, medical professional, etc.).
Michael Nail is not interested in preventing crime, he is interested in his and his constituents employment (DCS).
A “state wide sexual assault tracking system” already exists.
To Scott Holcomb:
A “state wide sexual assault tracking system” already exists.
If a doctor commits a crime, the victim can report it. Why would a doctor or anyone report a crime they commit?
“Victims” may autonomously report but under the constitution suspects can require to confront them.
To Robert Trammell:
Yeah, bills combined together often cause a compromise in what is right and what is wrong. Two strikes and you get a life sentence. Probation for life is ridiculous as that probation will continually entail more restrictions and eventually end in homelessness costing Georgians much more money.
To Josh McLaurin:
Thank you. One of the criminal justice reforms in Ga should be to get everyone tiered and low risk offenders off the public registry.
To Chuck Efstration:
Ga is so far behind (7 years) in classifying sex criminals… who is dangerous? I’d say, as many studies have concluded that 95+% of new sex crimes are by those KNOWN to the victim (parents, teachers, coaches, law enforcement, clergy, medical professional, etc.).
F you. Rep. Sainz is so misinformed it’s ridiculous. A second conviction not within legal statutes…. huh? A life sentence on probation equates to a life sentence in prison only without the possibility of being ass fucked or killed. If you are so smart on crime, you’d know recidivism rates. The morally right thing to do has absolutely no bearing on legality. Ever heard of the US constitution? It saves the tax payers money how? Locking them up for life? We pay for that idiot.
Again, the SORB in Ga is at least 7 years behind on leveling offenders.
The best action to factually insure public safety is not by continually and increasingly punish offenders. How is that done without violating privacy IDK.
Another bad bill is the ban on internet use just because you are on “sex offender” probation. I understand that punishment is a necessary part of keeping “law and order” within our country, but I have never understood the blanketed ban on the internet use in this day and time — 20 years ago, maybe, but not in 2020.
https://www.law.com/newyorklawjournal/2020/03/12/ny-civil-liberties-union-argues-blanket-ban-on-internet-access-for-sex-offenders-is-unconstitutional/?slreturn=20200213141210
This gives you an idea of the high caliber of advocates we have in Georgia, even if not everything can be a win.
This won’t happen and there’s a case in the 11th Circuit challenging it anyhow
What won’t happen? The bad bill? Is that what’s being challenged in 11th?
Umm… What exactly won’t happen?
Blanket Internet bans based solely on being listed on the registry and subject to community supervision by Parole officials. That will not fly. Packingham attached a 1st Amendment liberty interest, and a strong one at that to the 1st Amendment. Blanket prohibitions are falling.
The only upside to the situation in Georgia is that both federal and state courts have said that they cannot retroactively apply a bunch of stuff the registrants. These include the draconian residency and employment restrictions that were imposed around 2006. The other good thing as best as I can tell is that not only can you petition to be removed from the registry in Georgia even for out of state , convictions, But after the post 2010 rewrite of the laws, it looks like they left out the part about having to submit all of your Internet identifiers. For some of us that would be a big deal in and of itself because in Florida, you’re pretty much restricted from setting up your own little business that uses the Internet because you can’t use a lot of the common tools required to be successful.
You are so right. I STILL can’t figure what is and isn’t legal with regard to reporting internet identifiers, so, except for posting on FAC (who gave us a green light), I just don’t do it at all.
Would the sign portion be retroactive or only forward-looking? I’d like to know before I waste my time looking to make a move to Georgia.
You know the old saying “The grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence”. I tried to move to California and moved right back before having to register once I learned more details.
I did however move from one Florida county to another to live with my parents as the place I was living I was getting more law enforcement visits than I did while on probation.
Funny 67 counties in Florida and each Sheriff has their own set of registry rules. Makes it hard when you live near the county line and could make a mistake by just driving to the store.
If JoeM above is right, then the worst thing about Georgia’s registration requirements would be the three-day window for registration. In my case, I’m less than an hour from Georgia now, so a minimal move geographically would result in appreciably more personal freedom.
No worries though. If I go I’ll still make my monthly contributions to FAC ;).
Some just use tax payers monies more wisely and know who to watch.
I often wonder how many law enforcement employees actually monitor what we say on F.A.C. I am sure by now they know about this site and many of us open up more on here than we normally do as we somewhat consider this a safe place to share.
Having said that, they do allow anyone to come on here and leave comments and sometimes I see people telling us to refuse to register etc. and am sure those are either plant from law enforcement trying to snare us or people who hate registered citizens and hoping to get us caught up in a web of deception and lies to further our chances of getting locked up on a so called violation.
If you think someone is watching you, you are probably right.
It’s like I told the probation people several years ago when they came to inspect my computer…”have fun, you might learn something!” That was the last time they inspected my computer. Maybe if some sneaky LEO is monitoring this web site he/she might learn something outside of the BS they have been taught in training.
How about this idea; So long as “taxpayer money” is being used for this and we are also tax payers, let’s start a class action against the states and the feds that so long as we are publicly shammed, can’t vote or go to the very parks and schools OUR part of the taxes help pay for, then we as SO’s should be tax exempt. Period.
I have to admit… I get very frustrated when people suggest, “let’s start a class action…” then don’t back up their statements with contributions to our legal challenges. Sure, great idea! We should bring lawsuits challenging everything. With what money?!?!
I hear ya. I donate monthly to FAC, Narsol and the registry matters pod cast. Iv spent 10k just this year in legal fees trying to seek removal from the registry. So im putting some skin in the game. And if these legal proceedings dont work out I’m going to funnel future funds directly into FAC.
i doubt this will be published but with that said does FAC Pubically disclose the financial statements? i been looking around the past few months and haven’t seen them posted. perhaps is we can see that someone or several are not receiving 100,000.00 salary, etc… then perhaps it would entice more donations
NOBODY at FAC earns A PENNY for our work. We are all volunteers. NOT A F-ING PENNY!!!! Do you really think we take in enough donations to even cover that?!?
I so appreciate the work done by FAC. I don’t know where any of us would be without FAC. I hope that the FAC leadership knows that sometimes comments are made out of frustration and are not really meant to demean the dedicated work done by FAC leaders. You folks are really so appreciated. We have to keep up a united front.
Thanks Capt. I was frustrated. I sometimes think that if people knew how much personal time and personal money it took to keep things going, they would be really ashamed to make comments like they do.
When I see what FAC volunteers crank out— everything from welcome packets to letters to law enforcement to legal challenge status updates and much more— I am nearly astounded at how they accomplish it all.
Tired Old Man, you have really “missed the boat here”. NO ONE who serves on the board or is a volunteer for FAC receives even a penny. In fact, all on the board plus the volunteers only give their OWN money to FAC — not the other way around. If we ever lose the leadership we have in FAC, we are all going to be sunk. They put in hours working for out cause, and it costs us as members NOTHING.
I hope FAC doesn’t “pubically”disclose anything unless it’s in consenting relationship between two adults….lol. Seriously, thank you to FAC for all you do! I’m spending a large amount of $ on lawyer fees here in Michigan in my quest to get my self removed from the registry here. I plan to donate to the out of state challenge whenever the matter is resolved hopefully very soon
Appreciate that sincerely!!!
Yes, thanks FAC! God bless you and your efforts, and know that they are not in vain!
The idea of a lawsuit from people not being able to vote or do the everyday typical things because of a felony or a sex offense yet still being tax payers should have been challenged YEEAAARS ago. Maybe even long before many of us were born.
Start it and I’ll contribute.
I said it once or twice FAC, I will say it again,there is no amount of money that can change anything. The proof is in the pudding,, the richest of the rich sex offenders lawyers are telling them don’t waste your money,, there are millionaire’s and billionaire’s on the sex registry and all the money in the world cant help them or us. I am sure I will repeat myself again at some point.
I think the fact that you are writing this contradicts your statement. We funded (collectively, through donations to kick-start our lawsuit) an Internet Identifier challenge that won. Had we been required to report, in advance, every URL (not just website, but URL) that we communicated on, we would not have had 30+ comments to moderate this AM because people would have long since foregone the pain in the butt and risk involved in reporting every URL to the FDLE.
Apparently we didn’t need contributions from the “richest of the rich”‘s to make that happen, nor did we need them for the pending cases. I’d rather build an organization on a foundation of $5/month contributions from people who that $5 a month actually means something – at least I know our efforts and lawsuits are meaningful.
I appreciate your regular posts on FAC, Riff Raff, but this one was respectfully, not correct.
I understand his frustration and interpret it differently. Basically money helps but money doesn’t always equal success. I blew through $50,000.00 on my case back in the early 90’s and was not even given the choice of a trial. I could have spent nothing and gotten the same results.
But I believe everyone on here appreciates what all F.A.C staff and volunteers do. Sometimes this is the only place we can bitch where someone gives a damn about us. I sometimes go off on a tangent myself and mean no harm when I do it.
I want to work so badly but every time I get a job some anonymous group seems to successfully get me fired even though I was forthcoming when hired.
My Parents who are elderly are taking care of me and it is supposed to be the other way around.
I / we did our time and owned it. We wanted to and do want to move on an be productive citizens but we are basically prisoners in our own dwellings wondering when the next brick will fly through the window, the next set of tires will be slashed, the next time “Freak” will be spray painted on the side of the house.
All this not because someone went down and got our file but because a 7 year old can access the registry and look through all the photos of the “monsters” Mommy told them to avoid that live close by.
One man with wisdom is of far more value than 10 wealthy fools.
I hope the registry catches the Corona virus and the Ebola virus at the same time and dies a slow painfull death. I’m so damn tired of the endless punishment.
Wait, your saying another piece of legislation is not going to go our way? that’s hog wash i tell you. As long as legislators have to justify their position to their constituents they will continue to pass ridiculous bills like this one using gotcha words like sex offender to scare the public into thinking it is in their benefit. were trying to bail the water out of the titanic with a bucket
@no hope
I too thought the situation was hopeless concerning the registry and its stipulations, BUT, as I have been watching FAC, ACSOL, and NARSOL I have been seeing victories that haven’t happened in the past.
Also, I am seeing the public’s eyes beginning to open about the actual recidivism rate-that it is extremely low for registrants.
Many women and rape crisis centers and even psychologists are chiming in now and advocating against the registry, and now even a Sheriff has made some fear-relaxing remarks.
Are things happening and progressing at the rate all of us would like? No!
BUT, positive things are happening and will continue to happen with the help of the FAC, ACSOL, NARSOL, etc., and you should thank God that we have these associations fighting on our behalf.
Pray that God gives them wisdom, knowledge, and courage to continue to fight and overcome these senseless laws and support them when you can.
David V C, well said. We must stay on the positive side of our fight for justice.
What a bunch of incompetent boobs! No wonder this country has gone to shit with idiots like this in power. So sad.
Signs in the yard were unconstitutional before this action and will still be unconstitutional after any action. I control what goes into my yard so if I lived in Georgia it would be a ‘cold day in hell’ before any sign went into my yard.
Good Day…
So, One Solution, maybe, Erecting a Fence around one’s residence with Adopted Pit Bulls as Lawn Ornaments, to Prohibit Such Draconian and Unconstitutional Pettiness!
So if politicians cannot be trusted to protect or even acknowledge constitutional rights for all America’s citizens, may God bless the courts to do so.
So registry is not punishment ? It is not enough to get shamed on a website but now on our own F-ing Yards? Might as well tattoo our Department of corrections # on our foreheads while your at it because they think they own us even after we served our time.
What would the sign look like at an apartment complex? Put up in a common area for everyone to see and no one would then want to move into that complex? Guess that is why apartments do not want to rent to us.
I am moving into a tree house starting tomorrow or a cave in the mountains. Oh wait Florida doesn’t have mountains.
Cherokee Jack, don’t give them any ideas. They already have enough plans to screw registered citizens.
yeah pisses me of that the new drivers licenses are going to have a HUGE number across the front. Right now mine is real tiny on the corner.
I feel sorry for those who have predator on their license. Everywhere you go nowadays they want to see your I.D and if you go to a doctors visit, how do you think you are going to be treated once they see that?
Bad enough one time when I got my license just with the # on it and the clerk went to her supervisor and then came over and said loud enough for everyone to hear “Oh you one of those registry pricks”. I would have complained to the supervisor but she was laughing about it along with the clerk.
And it just never stops. Matters will continue to worsen before they ever get better.
Alas, we can only hope that something like this is eventually heard by the Supreme Court.
Hearing it is a good possibility. Them giving a damn about us or our rights is another story that has yet to be written.
When they know we are right but they do not want to upset the balance of nature, they just refuse to hear a case and send it back to the lower courts in a game of tennis or ping pong.
One of these days a judge is going to grow a pair and do the right thing.
Pffft, the supreme court is full of boobs who only support idiots like the ones who pass laws like these.
You would say such a thing after SCOTUS DENIED CERT TO THE STATE OF MICHIGAN? You would say such a thing to JUDGE CLELAND WHO NOT ONLY PLACED A PERMANENT INJUNCTION AGAINST MOST ALL OF MI’S REGISTRY FOR PRE-2011 REGISTRANTS AND ALL REGISTRANTS FOR SOME THINGS…STRIKING RESIDENCY RESTRICTIONS, STRIKING THE STRICT LIABILITY CLAUSE FROM THE LAW, STRIKING HAVING TO LIST VEHICLES ON THE REGISTRY…Some judges are doing big things. Even though the case languishes to this day at the 10th Circuit, Judge Matsch made a precedent-setting ruling in Colorado by ruling the registry is a violation of the 8th Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. The CA Supreme Court ruled that local municipalities could no longer enact residency restrictions that are more stringent than what the state has already enacted, which has allowed Janice Belluci/ACSOL to file suit and force many localities to repeal their residency restrictions AND PAY THE BILL FOR THE SUIT.
Let’s not refuse to give credit where credit is due.
I forgot to mention that Judge Cleland also struck the requirement to register on-line identifiers. Not only can MI registrants have Internet access (unless their crime is directly tied to use of the internet (child exploitation by distributing K.P. or solicitation by electronic means), but they don’t have to tell the state squat about their user names, monikers, e-mail addresses, passwords, etc.
Too bad we cannot edit our comments….The 6th Circuit, along with Federal Judge Cleland completely killed the registry for pre-2011 individuals. They are not beholden to any registration obligation.
I’m sorry but in the grand scheme of things, that’s a drop in a big bucket. While some judges might actually be sane, the majority is what matters. After all, this country seems to revolve around majority everything, even if it’s not the general public majority involved.
Don’t need Supreme Ct. Just need this circuit to rule similarly to the 6th.
When the Federal Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit ruled against many of Michigan’s registry provisions, the Supreme Court, thankfully, refused to take up Michigan’s petition for cert. That made it a win. Then a district court in that circuit enjoined the state against enforcing it.