Nebraska sex offenders testify for change in registry law
Twenty-eight people who were registered sex offenders, or the wife, mother, father, brother or counselor of sex offenders, lined up to give testimony to the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee on Friday, asking for changes to the Nebraska registry law.
The Judiciary Committee embarked on a study of the sex offender registry law over the interim to determine if changes are needed and, if so, what they should be.
The registered offenders told the committee about how the registry created life-altering situations in which they couldn’t get jobs, or only the lowest-paying jobs, or were denied housing. Spouses and children were punished along with them, and in some cases their inclusion on the registry led to divorce because of the limitations it placed on their lives.
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One key difference between Nebraska and FloriDUH is that Nebraska doesn’t have a victim advocate working as a Senator. Not that Lauren Book (or even her repeat offender daddy) is solely responsible for the mess in FloriDUH, but it certainly doesn’t help she’s obsessed with this issue, and she plays the victim card better than Tom Brady plays quarterback.
So Nebraska may be on the right track. Any time there is a change it gives us all hope. Of course Florida may fight ever changing. So if you get fed up with it here and you are able, where do you go? No state really has it good. We either quietly support change and hope we see it, or get out and publicly fight for it. Honestly I just hope I’ll be able to go see my two year old graduate from high school. So as much as I want to be treated fairly now, I guess since I don’t have a choice I’ll wait.
I moved out of Florida with my wife of 40 years.
Florida will never change their laws. my allegations
was over 21 years ago and I am paying for life.
never been in trouble with the law. it took all
all of our money to get out. we moved to Georgia
so we can still be close to our children in Florida.
it is better here for us still having trouble getting a job.
I could not see the light of things getting better in
Florida. the registry does not only affect me but
my wife, my adult children and grandchildren.
I’m not going to talk about being innocent it
is what it is. when you can’t pay for a attorney
that will work for you. most of us know that.
my hop is that the registry will be removed
because it is just destroying America.
I too have been contemplating a move out of Florida. The only thing holding me back is the fact that I will still be on Floriduh’s registry for life.
“It shouldn’t be designed to be an additional form of punishment, he said.”
from a lawmaker
hummm
I was placed on the sex offender registry when I was 26 in 1997 after receiving an Adjudication Withheld judgment. I have been never been convicted of a crime or been to prison. FACT! It became immediately clear that I would never have a normal life again. I’ve been under so much pressure and constant rule changes since that time that the very idea of trying to have a family has never really entered my mind. As I age, this tremendous loss is beginning to dawn on me. I still struggle to survive and somehow make self-employment viable. But not ever having a family because of the chronic stress and threats from being on the sex offender registry is a punishment that’s hard to fathom and come to grips with. Now that my older relatives are all gone this lack of a family of my own weighs heavily on my mind at times. Lucky for me I get to work 7 days a week often times which helps keep my mind of things.
Florida’s still a few years off from what Nebraska is doing. We’ll get there.
Yes, Jacob I truly stand with your thoughts as well !! Until then we must continue to stand firm collectively as a group and fight the many unjust laws and conditions that we as registrants endure.
Can’t Florida start working on it now, though? I would think that the most difficult part would be getting permission from the representative or senator who heads up the committee that oversees this sort of thing, and that probably would be quite a challenge.
A committee chair recognized that the FL registry wasn’t working and requested information from an FAC legislative volunteer earlier this year. To my recollection, anyway. It might have been a private conversation since Florida politically is several years behind Nebraska on this issue.
That won’t stop us from moving forward on the ex post facto plus challenge, of course, but ideally we need to both litigate AND legislate.
Um, I think the Expo facto suit Florida action committee filed is currently active so that is not a few years off. That is the reason this site exist, not just to spread our frustrations but to do something about it.
If the FDLE does not violate all of our life time probation like registry requirements that set us all up to fail. Every time I get a knock at my door my heart skips a beat wondering if the Gestapo has arrived to haul me away for wearing a green shirt on blue shirt day.
Why would you assume that Florida will EVER do the moral and right thing? If anything I would say Florida is decades behind. By the time they do anything (they won’t) Florida will be underwater.
So don’t hold your breath. I have seen nothing but more punishment added to SO rules. Unreasonable rules at that – lifetime probation is the reality.
Florida is never going to let you go. It’s just not part of the business plan.
Although I try to remain optimistic, I am forced to agree. Counting no new punishments as a victory is NOT a victory. A victory would be getting them eliminated or at least rolled back, i.e. 5 days instead of 3 days. I have seen enough televised legislative sessions to know they have their opinions already formed before any “public” hearings. Nothing we could say will sway their bloodlust to see us all dead or locked away until we die.
In my heart, I believe the Ex Post Facto challenge will fail. Unless the Supreme Court finds the registry unconstitutional, nothing will change for the better in Floriduh.