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?
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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.Â
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:Â
- 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.)Â
- 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?Â
JJJJ
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Most passionately and eloquently stated my friend.
The entire registry hangs on this one statement: “The registry is not punishment”.
THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST WILLFULLY FRAUDULENT GASLIGHTING STATEMENTS I’VE EVER HEARD. Is there no one qualified out there that can prove the government’s B.S. ??!!
Yes! This is the “elephant in the room”. It is INDEED ex-post-facto punishment!
And it is very, very illegal; for, it is a clear violation of the US Constitution!
Everyone knows it – even the liars who lie through their teeth in order to keep perpetuating their hatred, bullying and scapegoating!
It is as obvious as the nose on your face!
It is a wink-wink, nudge-nudge Elephant-in-the-Room. (And EVERYONE knows it!)
Calling the registry a civil duty rather that a criminal punishment is a twisting of our laws and constitution (in order to perpetuate an institutional-level system of hatred that is sponsored by our own government against about 1 million of our fellow citizens)!
Imagine that!! Imagine that!!
@JJJJ
The problem is, we are considered the worst of the worst, above, (Or below depending on how you look at it) Murders, and all other crimes. Someone who looked at porn and put on the registry is considered worse than someone who has had a 40 year reign of other crimes on their rap sheet and prison history.
The registry is wrong period, but the retroactive application on those who were put on the registry long after we had been sentenced but not only not fair, but an injustice.
We have constantly complained that this is not just us being punished but our families are in danger as bullets have flown through some of our houses (Yes me) and too many other 100s of incidents to even list. I would say does someone have to die to make the point but FAC has reported on several registrants deaths over the years I have been part of FAC community. Even death seems to not give us peace.
Too true Cherokee once we die we will be violated for failure to register
How long?
How long?
Oh Lord! How long must our people continue to be Lynched by the angry mobs who so easily find our names and addresses on the government HATE List!!
How long????
(Lord, how long?)
Folks, there haven’t been any lynchings. Our opponents are hysterical, they imagine dangers where there are none, and we shouldn’t (no reflection on JJJJ) become like them. Reality is bad enough. Let’s stay focused!
A lynching is a murder of a person due to populist hate because of a person’s status as a person generally hated by society. (Not neccesarily a hanging by the neck.)
Many of our people have, indeed, been lynched!
It is time we started calling the murder of our fellow registrants for the populist hate-induced Lynchings that they are.
With the people, For the people, By the people For the one million of us individuals desperately need to be heard and listened to once more!……. that we are tired and miserable trying to get our point across. “THE REGISTRY IS NOT WORKING” The homeless want to go home, get back to work and live happily like we would be doing if not for the “REGISTRY” It is time to be heard once more. God is waiting for you… And thank you!!!!. As we are thanking God too.
I agree with everything you said and I would also like to add that the laws don’t equally apply to everyone. There are people that get away with crimes based on their position of power. We had a police officer up here in Pennsylvania who got off with a slap on the wrist and no registration despite getting oral from an underaged girl. There are double standards everywhere! You have people simply urinating outside who are added to the registry. Entrapment cases like mine added to the registry. It’s all a bunch of b*******!
One of the major hurdles we currently wrestle with right now is the argument that if the registry were just summarily ended, that would put some dangerous people on the street. If you’re trying to get a politician to change their mind, which is the best response to that argument?
a. I don’t care. Either take everyone off or no one off.
b. You are wrong, there are no dangerous people on the registry so just take everyone off.
c. Keep those you think dangerous on the registry but let those who are not, off.
Obviously the answer is c. If we understand that the process of ending the registry will most likely not happen in one fell swoop, then compromise is the name of the game. We can’t be all or nothing in this and a logical place to start is to remove names who, just by their crime, pose the least risk to society.
It’s nothing personal. It’s about navigating a political process.
Hi rpsabq.
Thank you for your thoughts on this. Yes, I agree that there are definately people who are psychopaths who need to be taken off the streets by the authorities. (A psychopath is a person who is criminally insane.)
But we already have systems in place to keep criminally insane people off of our streets. It is called involuntary civil commitment. One involuntarily commits a citizen to a mental institution by using a process called a “Baker Act”. If, for instance, someone walks down main street, naked, they would probably be “Baker-Acted”.
A “Baker Acted” person, however, has rights that we, as sorna registrants do not have:
1.) They have the right to be periodically evaluated by competent psychiatrists, in order to determine if they still pose an active risk to society at large. (We do not.)
2.) They have the right to petition the court in order to challenge their Baker Act status. (We do not)
3.) They must be treated with respect and dignity and cared for as wards of the state. (Our government, instead, treats us with malice and contempt.)
4.) They have the right to privacy. (Our status is hatefully and maliciously broadcast to our next door neighbors and the world!)
Yes, we must, as a society, have the means to remove the criminally insane from our streets. And we also have the means to free those who have responded to psychiatric treatment. We keep their status confidential, and we treat them with dignity and pity.
So, if we have these safety rails in place, then why do we need a registry? Either lock us up as being criminally insane (and give us the above safeguards) or leave us alone! We are US CITIZENS!
@ rpsabq:
Respectfully, I would choose d: Yes, there are a few truly dangerous individuals there. But the registry cannot protect society from them, and will do nothing to recapture them if they repeat their offenses.
Along with overpopulation and all the constitutional issues, the registry should be exposed for the miserable failure that it is in regards to its stated purpose and absolute worthlessness as a law enforcement utility.
Can I just respectfully say, just because there “IS” a path to get off is NO guarantee you WILL get off. I have talked to several lawyers who have brought their clients before a judge when their client was eligible to be removed and were denied. If denied, you either have to wait a certain amount of more time before trying again.
Here is the problem, it can cost untold thousands of dollars to petition to be removed, and some have saved funds their entire lives to get removed. If denied, it is unlikely most would be able or even want to risk a large sum again on a chance of getting removed.
In Florida, even though you can get off, does not mean you will. The best lawyer on Earth cannot make a judge do anything. And I was told there is no appeal process since it is considered civil matter.
Civil matters are appealed all the time. A judge’s discretion, however, is not appealable unless an abuse of discretion can be shown. I hate to say it, but I don’t see a circumstance where an appellate court would find a judge abused discretion in denying a petition to be removed from the registry.
Yes, and for many, many of us, even that path is completely blocked. There is, simply, no path off the registry; no due process. (Unlike a Baker Act)