Good Article on Wisconsin’s Efforts to Put Homeless Registrant on GPS
Just as the 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals is considering the constitutionality of Wisconsin’s GPS monitoring for repeat offenders, a handful of lawmakers are trying to slap GPS monitors on people who are homeless, through a recently introduced piece of legislation.
At least the press this bad idea is getting is introducing some common sense and fairness. Wisconsin public radio is presenting a balanced story. As they write, “longtime Milwaukee defense attorney Jonathan LaVoy told WPR the legislation “infuriates me, quite frankly.” He said local governments have ordinances on where registered sex offenders can and can’t live, “therefore, there are a lot of people that are homeless, not by choice, but by circumstance.” “The government makes it very difficult for sexual offenders to have stable residences, putting many of them into a homeless population,” LaVoy said. “And now we’re saying that those same people, because they can’t find a home, are going to have to wear an ankle monitor. I think it’s inappropriate and not good for Wisconsin.”
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How is this not punishment. Forced to wear GPS . You cannot charge the system. It shuts off. You are violated. Warrant issued. Fugitive task force dispatched as if you were a terrorist. Arrested….. back into the system and then in prison because you were homeless due to the sex offender registry and restrictions and you had to wear a GPS that requires charging. Better to just place Airtags on everyone. Florida wants you to live a normal life but Florida wants you to not live a normal life. What gives?
The govt creates this mess and this is how they want to ensure the know where they are at at all times?! You cannot tell where a domiciled PFR is at all times so this violates IMO the Equal Protection Clause.
It makes me wonder where the Due Process is. When each Registrant was sentenced there were registry requirements in place that presumably the Judge took into account at sentencing. ( The way the Constitution requires it to be done). Now after Sentencing they are levying new consequences without adjudication. As far as I know the only way to lose your civil rights allowable by the Constitution is for them to be revoked by a Judge. Our rights along with almost all Felons are legislated away which is contrary to the constitution. This monitoring scam is no different. Once the monitor is placed that constitutes custody under the Habeas Corpus rules,
Exactly December, that’s their whole intention. The laws that make sense, are there for a good reason, the rest are just vengeance laws.
What has happened to the even basic humanity to others? Every single person, no matter how bad they are, they are someone’s Father, Mother, Sister, Brother, Neice, nephew, Cousin etc, etc etc.
Yes there are some very bad people in the World, but what happened to compassion and second chances? It seems lifetime punishment (That is said to not be punishment) is ok to retroactively apply and then add on all the rules and restrictions to trip us up so we never see freedom in our lifetimes.
I could understand if we were sentenced to a lifetime of some sort of punishment. What I have a problem with is, we all stood before a judge and pleaded to something and THAT was what we all agreed on. Pre-registry we had no idea what was coming and that caused the deal or plea we made null and void if you ask me.
When you ask for no pickles on your burger, they usually make it right, but when you ask for no more punishment beyond what we already agreed to, then get a life sentence of sorts, well what the *#@%.(Add your own word)
And where are the homeless going to charge them? One felon here in Ocala plugged his monitor into a public plug and was arrested for theft of services. The judge threw it out, but then the city installed lockable covers.
Dumb and dumber. The whole agenda is to make life impossible for registrants so that they end up back in prison.
And then the legislators will complain about the cost to house the registrants when they end up back in prison. And who is supposed to pay for the homeless registrants to wear these GPS ankle monitors? Those little jewels aren’t free. I guess the taxpayers will eventually pony up the funds through some hidden tax or other obfuscated fee, if such a poorly designed conceptual bill ever becomes law.