Miami Herald Letters to the Editor: Sex offender label
I am writing in response to the June 20 article, “Florida’s sex offender population is aging. Where can they live out their silver years?” in which I was quoted.
While I appreciate the exposure the Herald has given this important topic, I wanted to correct a gross mis-characterization contained in the article that is contributing to the problem. In the article, I was referred to as “Gail Colleta, an advocate for sex offenders.” That is inaccurate. Neither I nor my organization advocate for sex offenses or people who are offending.
If we continue to refer to this population as “sex offenders” we are perpetuating the perception that this is what they do. It’s not a job title. It’s not like they wake up in the morning, get dressed and go out to sexually offend. This label is a completely inaccurate representation of who they are. They are fathers, sons, co-workers, friends and human beings.
The Florida Action Committee advocates for persons who might have committed a sexual offense years ago, have served their sentences, yet are being subjected to policies that are ineffective, inhumane and counter-productive. Most importantly, we advocate for public safety. Public safety is not achieved by legislating people into homelessness and depriving them of basic human needs.
Those practices go counter to public safety and the empirical evidence proves that. If we want to introduce any rational thought to this topic, we need to stop labeling these human beings as if they were current offenders.
Gail Colletta,
President, Florida Action Committee
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Thank you, Gail!
Thank you Gail. Well said as always.
Bravo…
I’m so sick of the way they label these humans. I have a son that did his time . He got out in 2012 but still haves a label sending post cards out with all his information on it. Label on his driver’s licences, can’t get a job . There’s a lot more I could talk about .The one thing I would like to know is if I have a murderer or big time drug dealer living around us. To me that’s just as bad.I sure wish I knew someone to talk to about the way they act, like these men or women have a disease .Thank you
In a way, a drug dealer is worse, way worse. They’ll go out and hurt many people just to make a quick buck. And the time they are in jail/prison, they aren’t scheming on how to do it again and get a bigger score and not get caught. How do I know this? Because I spent 5 years in DOC around these true criminals. Every day, every night, I always heard some sort of plans of how to do it better and get away with it.
Us who have committed a sex crime go through incarceration planning on ways to make sure it “doesn’t” happen again. 180 degree mindset.
Thank you Gail for responding to their misinterpretation. It is so important. I hope somehow they would print that and make it known to all in an effort to truly educate. Thank you for all you do! I and my family truly appreciate all the efforts of FAC, the staff and all the volunteers. It is encouraging that the membership numbers and participation are growing not only here but as stated in the recap articles about the attendance at the recent NARSOL and Acsol conferences.
They did print it.
I visited the John F Kennedy Museum a couple of days ago. I saw this and thought how apropos.
“The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie–deliberate, contrived and dishonest–but the myth–persistent, persuasive and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the cliches of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”