Member Submission: Even with Exit Paths, Sex Offender Registry Is Wrong
THE FOLLOWING IS THE OPINION OF ONE OF OUR MEMBERS AND NOT NECESSARILY THAT OF FLORIDA ACTION COMMITTEE.
As I share a concern I have, please understand I am not trying to start a war. I hope my comments will be construed as being respectful.
There are a lucky few registrants who have a path to deregistration. Many of us do not. We are “lifers.”
Respectfully, if you are one of those who will be deregistered, and you think that your crimes are “better” than someone else’s crimes, then you are entirely missing the point.
The point is that the twisting of our constitution and laws (whether it targets truly bad people or pretty-good guys who just made a horrible mistake) is NEVER right. – For anyone.
The problem is the registry itself, not whom it targets.
Furthermore, if there are approximately 1 million frustrated and angry registrants right now, and we can barely move towards our goal of elimination of the registry, then what if one-half of those people suddenly get deregistered? What if, suddenly, there are only half of us left to “fight the good fight?” Don’t you think that our cause for justice might suffer?
Sure, you may be able to get off the registry…but does that mean “Hurray for me and tough luck for the rest of you?”
Half measures are anathema to our cause for liberty and equal justice. ALL registries are unjust, for they are government blacklists that foment hatred – government-sponsored hate.
Lastly, I say, let us not mince words with the so-called Sex Offender Management Boards and other officials who perpetuate this un-American and illegal scheme. For by doing so, we grant this scheme of persecution an air of credence and an air of respectability. We must present a very united front by telling them (respectfully) exactly what they are and what they are doing:
- They act in violation of the protections afforded by our various state constitutions and the federal constitution. (By twisting the laws to fit their own animus.)
- They act in violation of international human rights.
- They maintain a government blacklist and publicize that rag for the purposes of persecution of, and hatred towards, a segment of their own citizenry. (They Dox us.)
- They ardently, and with malice, act to deny jobs, housing, and welfare to about 1 million of their own citizens. (Public, government-sponsored Hate.)
- They deny our vote.
- They deny us public housing and SBA loans.
- They restrict us to modern-day Ghettos by enacting housing ordinances.
- They enact capricious and malicious laws designed to trap us and send us back to prison for innocuous, everyday actions like letting someone park their car on your property or sitting on a park bench.
- They have suspended Habeas Corpus. (They force us to appear at the county jail under penalty of felony prosecution for forced interrogations.)
- AND … They have enacted a set of laws that only apply to a small subset of hated and feared citizens. (This reeks of Jim Crow Laws.)
Let us be respectful and courteous, but we must tell these haters exactly what they are guilty of.
Thank you for reading this and considering my viewpoint. Do you share it? Or do you think that some people should be let off the registry, but the registry should stay in place?
JJJJ
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Well said. . .
All that read this should share it to all their contacts and all social media.
Maybe even cut and paste and email to all law makers.
Maybe even print out and mail to the President of the United States.
I have asked this very same question of people who would deny any half-way measures, and while I would fight for all injustice (and have fought for other causes before), I have asked this question:
What if 90% could be eliminated tomorrow? Why not go there? If it was accepted tomorrow by powers that be, why not?
The counter argument fears that one would never be able to remove the remaining 10% ever, and that’s a powerful argument that might prove true. But those that advance it cannot prove they are right; they could just as well be wrong. By demonstrating that the sky did not fall and crush us when 90% was offered, why not 100% — full repeal of the registry statutes?
What have we gotten for our efforts so far? We have curbed the damage somewhat, mitigated it, but the Registry is still there. What door to door campaign has been initiated? None, as far as I know. Maybe it’s time to start. AT long last, NARSOL and ACSOL could take the lead on something that could result in meaningful change.
Dear Mr. Achin,
Here’s a thought experiment:
Suppose that everybody on the entire US Sorna registry would be deregistered if we all agreed that one single person would be singled out to continue to be registered (persecuted)? That single person would shoulder the blame for all of us.
Would it be right to throw that one person under the bus?
How about 10 US citizens?
A dozen?
20?
100?
When is it just, fair, or correct to dox your fellow citizen? Or breathe hatred against them? Or take away the rights that they fully RE-EARNED through their compliance with the law?
If it’s okay to abandon 10% and turn a blind eye, why not 11.6% or 12%? (Why not, indeed, 20%? … Or 30 … Or 40-ish percent)?
I love the submission, but I think if we find a way to get even just 10% off the registry, we should take it. We should take every chip away we can get. It’s a win to get any group(s) removed from the registry. Then we keep fighting.
For the 90% that remain on the registry, nothing has changed, other than there are less lobsters in the boiling pot with them.
Now, if the “deal” was to make things worse for the 90% in order to remove the 10%, then obviously that’s a whole other situation and the answer would have to be a resounding NO.
But, again, any removal is a win. Any reduction of rules is a win. We should pursue abolition, but accept chipping away just as much along the way.
To JJJ,
and anyone else (apologies I did not read them all),
Mine, too, was a thought experiment now that I look at it.
You ask compelling questions, isn’t injustice for one, injustice for all. But your response seems to suggest there is only ONE bite at the apple. I don’t know. Do you have only one chance to fight injustice? Is it done in one sweeping motion, or little by little, by degree?
Cancer must be excised! (Not salved!)
If this person speaks as well as he/she writes, please consider speaking at one or more of the legislative delegation meetings.
Ann, I would dearly love to be a mouthpiece at legislative sessions! I would be willing to travel!
Just give me the word, and we will plan it.
Again, my answer: Yes, Yes, Yes! (Please)
All that is true. To me, the bigger problem that registries pose is that they make the problem that they are trying to solve worse because they’re premised on a flawed understanding of sexual harm. It should be in everyone’s interests — registrant or not — to build a society that is free from sexual harm. By being built on top of myths, registries divert attention and resources away from actual solutions and instead invest in little more than continual punishment for people who have already been punished for a crime.
Whether or not someone has a path off the registry is also entirely arbitrary: some states provide a process for people to contest their dangerousness, most do not. Some states have lifetime for everyone, others do not, and it is just a function of where someone lives. Where I live now, I have to be on the registry for 25 years. If I moved to Florida, it would be life. If I moved to Canada (which as a Canadian citizen, I could certainly do), I would be done with it. If I moved to a state that was compliant with federal law, I would also be done with it as of six or so years ago. I’m not more or less dangerous in any of those places. It’s all just an accident of geography.
Guy
A major problem also is many registrants do not work, not because they are lazy but so many jobs do not want registrants. A chance to get off the registry involves untold 1000s of dollars that not everyone (Even non registrants) just have laying around. Add to that, if you get denied, you have lost all that money and could take 30 years to save that amount up a 2nd time. By then, most of us will be dead. 30 years from now I would be 90.
CherokeeJack and JJJJ Oh I was hit with it’s gonna cost me 100,000 an I wouldn’t get it past the 11th circuit. He knew I was dead right against the Sheriff Dept. He slammed the 5/17/96 Amendment at me then the VCC of 9/13/94 at me then kicked me out of his office. That’s when I knew it’s a no win battle. This was in 2005. Now I have them by the balls an I will win this war. You want one person JJJJ I’m your one person. I was convicted before the laws an had due process because I was convicted before 9/13/94 that ruled “Not For Public Notification” before the 5/17/96 Amendment allowing the states to make their registry public record. It’s coming it’s now in the hands of the FBI…
@ Allen
I am right there with you, my incident was in 1991. Arrested in 1992 and sentenced in 1993. Wasn’t until I was released in 1997 that I found out a registry for Florida was ready to launch. If I had known at sentencing a registry was coming, I would have gone to trial.
@Cherokee It’s just crazy with what they do. The main thing is I got them right where we want them. My case will prove 100% that it is punishment. They can’t grant “Due Process” being convicted before 9/13/94 have a judgement of “Not For Public Notification” before the Registry notification law an then the state of Florida used this Amendment of 5/17/1996 to enforce it to make it public. That is double-jeopardy… 24 1/2 years of it along with a number of other civil rights violations by a Sgt in Lee County Flordaaa The best thing is this now brings in the Feds because it violates a Federal Ruling by the 3rd Cir.
E.B. v. Verniero, 119 F. 3d 1077 (3d Cir. 1997) The Court held that “Due Process” under the State and Federal Constitutional law requires a judicial hearing before public notification can take place. So my friend, it’s now in the hands of the FBI… Her immunity from prosecution goes out the window as it is now Federal. ( Yes the state granted them it in their laws ) Both Congressmen for the County of Lee will be notified soon of this injustice in their district. I wonder what are wonderful Constitutional Governor is gonna say about this?
Spot on power to the people means all people including all of us.
WOW! Love this submission. The bullet list says so much. Hope this one stays on the front page for a while!
Thank you, JJJJ.