Let’s educate ActionNewsJax about the cause for transient registrants
ActionNewsJax, just ran a story titled, “Homeless sex offenders become growing Florida problem”. Their story (which can be seen below) implies that registrants are somehow intentionally registering themselves as transient in order to evade detection, but that is absolutely NOT the case!
The growing number of transient registrants is the unintended consequence of Sex Offender Residency Restrictions (SORRs) enacted in the State and most municipalities that prevent individuals from living 1000, 1500, 2500 or even farther from places like schools, parks, day cares or “places where children congregate”. That leaves very few housing options. In some cities, this has left fewer than five residential properties which are compliant with the laws.
As more people are added to the list with zero attrition (in Florida registration is for life), the number of people on this list is continuously growing, while the availability of housing is continuously shrinking.
If citizens view “homeless sex offenders [as] becom[ing] a growing Florida problem” they should contact their lawmakers and encourage them to repeal the SORRs.
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They never even bothered to explain the cause of this problem, namely, the residency restrictions.
I’ve noticed a growing number of media outlets are disabling commenting and not posting it to social media for these types of stories.
Being a registered sex offender not only restricts housing, but it prevents a person from getting a job at a liveable wage or any job at all, thus leading to homelessness.
I was just inspired to share something that came to mind. This could be any of us. When I was released from prison, I had a support system in place. My parents did not reject me and came and picked me up and I moved in with them.
When I got on my feet, I got my own place. I was still on probation. I had promised a bunch of guys I would help them when they got out. I let them down because all the plans I had to help some of these guys who had no one to help them, got squashed by my probation officer.
See she said it was a violation of my probation to live with another felon while on probation. After I had to break the news to all of them, most stopped writing. One kept writing for a while but he decided to do something stupid to just stay in prison.
About 25% of the world’s total prison population is in the United States, which holds about 2.19 million prisoners as of 2019 (1.38 million in federal and state prisons, 745,200 in jails).
Some of these will never get out but many eventually will. If you do not have a plan or some sort of help or assistance from friends, family or an organization, you will most likely end up on the streets. I have no idea what I would have done if my parents had told me I was on my own.
Any of us on this site, just the fact we are able to use the internet means we beat the odds of ending up in one of these camps most likely. Remember every day to remind your family and friends how much you love them.
I am struck by the difference between Polk and St John’s counties here.
Were this Polk (or Volusia), the Sheriff’s office would be fear-mongering, calling them names, and actively looking for reasons to re-arrest them and announce those arrests.
SJCSO, by contrast, says basically, “this is what the law is, we’re doing this because we’re following the law.”
That’s exactly the attitude chump the sheriff department’s recruit for ask no questions swear to badge and flag go arrest lol
I went to their website at https://www.waff.com/ and can’t find the story to post a comment on. Did they take it down already?
The video is still up at
https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/investigates/investigates-homeless-sex-offenders-become-growing-florida-problem/OGDRSELKJVASZPXGOO2V4TWQGE/
but there is no comment section that I can find. Please contact the reporter, Robert Grant, at [email protected]. Pascale Head is the News Director and needs to be contacted, too, but I have been unable to find her email address. Maybe an FAC member can help us out on that as Ms. Head needs to know how misinformed Mr. Grant’s report was.
Thank you, RM, for your help. I am sending an email to Mr. Grant also. Hopefully, other FAC members will join us in this effort. As always, though, be gentle with him. My experience has been that they will not listen to us if we start attacking them. This reporter is probably a very nice man — just needs some gentle educating.
That’s not news4jax, looks like Huntsville Alabama. News4jax is in Jacksonville and cost my husband his job when they turned up at his place of employment with cameras. The owner knew everything but had hired him anyway (there are a couple decent people out there) but the reporter was so accusatory about how you could hire someone on the registry that he had to let him go, the publicity would have been devastating for the business. Never mind that the offense was some internet pictures years ago.They then turned up at our house where my 85 year old stroke patient dad answered the door to cameras and reporters wanting to know how we felt about the firing . It would be lovely if someone, anyone, could make these vultures see the heartbreak and damage they cause, but I just don’t see it happening. News4jax does run one of these stories every few weeks, I’m sure one will come up soon!
Sorry – posted the wrong video.
You wrote: ” It would be lovely if someone, anyone, could make these vultures see the heartbreak and damage they cause…”
Be advised, they don’t care because this is how they make their living. Sorry this happened to you and your family. WFTV in Orlando does very similar “reporting” if you can really call it that. They destroyed my life too. So I know who you feel.
💜
Already had one today, an attorney for the city of Jacksonville Beach was arrested today on suspected molestation charges. And of course they gleefully reported every detail they had. It’s pathetic
Andrea
And what happens if they find out he is not guilty and the accusations were fabricated? Who repairs that persons life? Tried in the media as guilty before even seeing a judge.
Rachel
The same thing happened to me back about 17 years ago. I spoke to a lawyer. He said the constitution gives the press basically a free pass to do almost anything they want.
For God sakes they drive around with police scanners and show up while your loved ones lays dying from a gun shot and start filming.
All they care about is getting the story no matter who they embarass, no matter whose lives they ruin. And if they report something wrong, they rarely announce a retraction.
Rachel d, I have sent several emails to News4Jax in the past year concerning the misinformation they have been putting out on registrants — at times, absolute falsehoods. But nothing changes with that station.
That station has been my favorite local Jacksonville station all of my life. I no longer watch News4Jax.