NY: Decent article if you can get past the headline.
A recent Spectrum News story, “Homeless families placed in motels find unwelcome neighbors: sex offenders” sounds exactly like the kind of headline meant to stir people up. But if you get past the headline, the story tells a very different truth.
Buried in the article is something lawmakers rarely admit: people on the registry can’t find housing. Not because they don’t want to—but because laws make it nearly impossible. As Assemblymember Joe Rolison put it, “the inability to find permanent housing… is very important to the management of individuals,” adding, “Stability is so important.” Exactly!!!
And yet policies like residency restrictions (SORRs) do the opposite—they eliminate stability. They push people out of communities and into whatever’s left… which, more and more, means random sketchy motels. So now you have families placed in temporary housing… and registrants forced into the same places. Not by accident. By design.
Rolison goes further: “there aren’t enough places for people (registrants) to live,” and when people are released, “they can’t be certain places… they can’t live certain places.” That’s the story. It’s not about danger, it’s about displacement.
And now, in NY, officials admit they’re stuck. The county says it makes “every reasonable effort” to separate families and registrants, but decisions are limited by “the availability of appropriate housing alternatives.”
The New York Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit that challenges the current living restrictions, known as Sexual Assault Reform Act or SARA restrictions, which says level three offenders cannot knowingly enter within 1,000 feet of school grounds, day care facilities and other child care facilities. “There are schools everywhere in dense urban environments, particularly in New York City, meaning people cannot find housing,” said Daniel Lambright, a senior lawyer for the NYCLU.
“DOCCS will try to find hotel situations where people can live, and again it’s caused by the residency restriction wiping out housing that people go to otherwise live for really no good reason because there’s not empirical evidence to support the residency restriction actions being effective at reducing sexual violence or sexual offending. It really just makes it harder for people to find housing and for people to rebuild their lives,” Lambright said.
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Borello says “we all know that sex offenders have high recidivism.” He only perpetuates the reputation that politicians are data (and truth) adverse.
Anonymous
“IF” that were true, why are most of us not back in custody? Most registry violations causes an arrest.
F.A.C has even said in the past, that we have one of the lowest recidivisms rates of most major crimes.
These call-outs are nothing but scare tactics and fluff to stir up the citizens to push for more restrictions and punishments.
Lawmakers like to make themselves look good and tough on crime. What crime have we committed (Since our original crime, sometimes decades ago)? Most of us still have to pay taxes, buy products and many other things that contribute to the economy. But we also have to pay taxes for services we are not allowed to use, like county/city parks, swimming pools and more. Most of the time we cannot even walk our kids/grandkids to school.
As populations in all areas, not just major cities, become denser and schools, daycares, malls, parks, etc are built the problem will persist.my son had to leave a good job in a state he loved because of the 1000 foot restrictions. He almost had a place secured, but because a pediatric dentist office was 500 feet from the apartment his probation officer said no go. I also think there is far too much minutia regarding the restrictions also. If someone wants to commit a crime, no matter the type of crime, they will do it no matter the restrictions.
I do not find that this is a decent article.
It has some good but more bad than anything, especially when ‘Borello said ‘we all know sex offenders have a high rate of recidivism’.
Someone should tell Borello to prove it!