Jacksonville agrees to stop requiring sex offenders to post “no candy” signs at Halloweeen

This Halloween, the city of Jacksonville will stop enforcing a local ordinance that required registered sex offenders to post a “no candy or treats here” sign every year. The city agreed to stop enforcing the law in response to a federal lawsuit it faced challenging the law’s constitutionality.

The lawsuit had cited a recent decision by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that said a Georgia county had violated the U.S. Constitution when it placed signs in the yards of registered sex offenders that said, “No trick-or-treat at this address!!”

Ahead of a Thursday hearing requesting U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan strike down the ordinance, a lawyer for the city said it would voluntarily agree to stop enforcing the law while the case was pending.

The plaintiffs’ attorney, Ray Taseff, told the judge that the plaintiffs would accept a modified version of the law that banned displays intended to attract children, but he argued the term “primarily targeted to” children is too vague of a standard, especially around Christmas when children are particularly attracted to holiday displays.

The city’s lawyer, Craig Feiser, claimed the plaintiffs’ manger and cross displays wouldn’t have violated the city ordinance, and he said that the ordinance already requires police officers to show that a sex offender knew that a display would attract children, even if the law doesn’t specifically say that.

“There should be no expectation that normal decorations will invite children onto properties during most holidays,” the city said in a court filing. “The prohibition does not prohibit simple displays of speech, lights or flags on Plaintiffs’ property.”

legal filing from a Sheriff’s Office lieutenant said that police initially give warnings and don’t arrest people who violated the ordinances. But arrest reports contradict that.

Last year, for example, someone was arrested for having “a pumpkin on the front porch, a paper pumpkin cutout, a picture of Winnie the Pooh trick or treating and a picture of a jack-o-lantern attached to the front door.” The sex offender said he had a daughter and didn’t know the decorations were outside the house, according to the arrest report. He asked if he could get a warning. Instead, the officer arrested him. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two days in jail.

In 2019, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office used the holiday-display ordinance to arrest a sex offender for having a Christmas tree inside his home “in clear view from the street.”

That year, officers arrested another sex offender for having “18 plastic candy canes and 4 red bows on the front gate as well as two wreaths on the two posts of the carport.” He was held in jail on a $2,503 bond for that.

The office also arrested another suspect for having “numerous Christmas Decorations displayed.” The sex offender said his wife had put them up for their grandchild. The arrest report claimed that “he is not allowed to put up Halloween or Christmas decoration [sic] at his residence and he was currently in violation of a city Municipal Ordinance. The suspect advised he did not [know] he was not allowed to put up decorations at his residence because no one told him. He explained he will let his wife [know] she cannot put up decorations.” He was held in jail on a $5,003 bond.

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22 thoughts on “Jacksonville agrees to stop requiring sex offenders to post “no candy” signs at Halloweeen

  • September 25, 2022

    My understanding of city ordinances is that they are not criminal they’re civil so how a policeman but arrest you on an ordinance his not right at all

    Reply
    • September 26, 2022

      Lucky, this is the penalty for violating the ordinance:

      Penalties. With regard to enforcement of this section, the City and the Sheriff’s Office may pursue any enforcement action or legal remedy available under the controlling state law and any legal remedy available to the City, to include, but not limited to, injunctive relief, arrest, a fine not exceeding $500.00 for each occurrence, or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding 60 days or by both a fine and imprisonment for each occurrence, unless prohibited by law.

      Reply
  • September 23, 2022

    If it was up to me, I’d have a haunted house that once a kid entered, they’d have a 5% chance of getting out. Those 95% randomly who succeed in entering would be transported to non-USA, a world where common sense prevailed, a world where people are not scared of the boogie man, a world in which those chosen to represent the majority do so, a safe world where one can just be; a world to flourish, procreate without reference to background, race, color, religion, sexuality, and most of all, be happy.

    Reply

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