I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again . Public registry’s of any kind are the first step towards anarchy. Is that what the people want .
That is why framers of our constitution outlawed public shaming.
What would be wrong with siding with police against a public list of police offenses. It’s wrong for them just as it is wrong for anyone else. They are dangerous and useless and only encourage vigilantism, which is just another term for anarchy. They just might appreciate someone siding with them now and we sure could use there support. Especially since many of them are not in support of a public registry anyway because it just makes there job harder.
The term offender definitely need changed because it’s technically incorrect and false. Unless they want to remove all people that are not currently offending. If they are they would be in jail. Which means there not on a list.

It’s late and I have very little time right now. I just want to say quickly to SarahF and Jacob that you two always seem to have very sensible, well conceived comments and ideas. I would feel very comfortable with such people deriving strategies and actions. I wish I had more time to help. I’ve really felt lately that I should be scaling back on this because other things need a lot more of my attention. I’ll see. I also don’t want to slight anyone else that I didn’t mention here. There are lots of other skilled people. Anyway …

I think “Sex Offense Registry” is great. I’m actually surprised I don’t think I’ve seen that before. That is all that the Hit List is. It is a list of people who have (probably) committed a sex offense. I think I will start using that all the time. Although I really, really do believe that MOST of the people who actually zealously support the Registries are not very smart and I think it will fly about 1,000 miles over their heads. Maybe can explain it to them. I’ve been calling the Registries the “Hit Lists”. Perhaps I’ll use “Sex Offense Registry” to introduce “Hit List”.

SarahF, you mentioned that you need to be brief, and that is very often the case, but I think just a couple of short sentences at the very beginning of every single communication would be a very good thing. I do think writings must say “sex offender” in them, in order to help with searches. I like what I wrote above but perhaps people can improve it? I tried to respond to that comment while it was “awaiting moderation” and that apparently failed. I only wanted to state that I didn’t like “lay person” and offered about 15 alternatives.

I think a common, worldwide emblem or insignia that people could eventually come to recognize, would be very useful as well. If just a few people could make one and get some people using it, its use could grow and grow over the years. It needs to be an emblem where people think, “I recognize that. What is that?” Personally, I’d like to put “Registration Liberation Army” on it. But perhaps that is too much. It would be useful to have a website on it? But whose? I feel it wouldn’t get adopted as much if it had a specific website on it. Maybe it should just say something like “search for _____ on the internet” and that would pull up all the various advocacy organizations? Or better … have a consortium just for this … and have the website for that do little more than includes links to all the organizations.

Too tired, I’m done.

My personal opinion is, we should continue to call it what it is. “Sex Offender registry” if we start calling it by different names it is bound to confuse people into thinking we are fighting to eliminate several different laws. This one law is hard enough to explain without having to explain a bunch of different names that we call it. Believe me I HATE to say Sex Offender Registry, but that is what it is and that is what the battle is called that we are fighting.

Sex Offense Registry strikes me as a great improvement, even if subtle. Because that’s all it is.

Appreciate your comments Sarah and Will. Allen
You both are right on but the term sex offender is derogatory and offensive and incorrect. In this time of political correctness it must be done away with as a general term. Just like derogatory names for blacks or other groups like people with mental disorders. There is no room or reason in today’s society for terms that falsely slander anyone by categorically discriminating against them by grouping them all together with a demeaning term.

Will Allen, something that was suggested to me by an FAC member was to refer to the registry as the Sex Offense Registry, which I am now doing.

You have some interesting points.

Use it once and only to point out that the term is wrong. That is surely part of the education process. My problem, though, is that I am limited in the number of words I can use. There is more information (research) out there that needs to be shared with the public now than any one person can write in a letter or posted comments. I feel our goal is to take down the registry or at least greatly scale it back, to be used only for the repeat offenders that cannot be stopped. If that were ever to occur, we would not be having this conversation over the words s__ o____.

When I write, post, or quote, just so there is no confusion, I have sometimes had to include the words s___ o___ one time at the beginning; then I switch over to something else quickly. If at all possible, I try to stay away from simply using s__ o___ and instead use “people on the sex offender registry”. Then I also try to move quickly away from that label.

I have had many people say they want a different word or word phrase used, and I have heard many examples given, but there is never a consensus as to what should be used.

I have copied your suggestion and will keep it in mind. Again, though, I am so limited in space and have so much I want to share. To get everything in would require writing a book.

I agree on the benefit with all groups uniting together. The cohesiveness and unity could be powerful. I hear others wanting the same thing. How to go about doing it is what I do not know how to do, but I am ready. I would like to see our cause unite with BLM movement.

The University of Florida law school is joining 12 other law schools in the state to create the Florida Law Schools’ Consortium for Racial Justice. They will be using second- or third-year law students to help community organizations conduct research, pull data, create reports or anything else than may be needed to help improve state racial justice policies. Today I am writing a letter to the UF Levin College of Law, asking that they consider helping in the reform of the registry and the draconian statutes/ordinances that go with it.

https://www.gainesville.com/news/20200630/uf-law-school-joins-racial-justice-group

Apparently you have to be on fb to read the whole thing, or even to hit the Like button. Which is fine; that’s the audience that needs to see it.

I lack savvy in fb, Insta hashtags, so that may be the way to go. As long as we can just get ppl to READ what’s underlying!

In fact, I recall someone from NARSOL making a similar comment— that they had to use “sex offender” in their articles in order for those articles to get more frequent google results.