Paying to Be Punished
Paying to Be Punished: A Statutory Analysis of Sex Offender Registration Fees is a new article appearing in the Journal of Criminal Justice Ethics that identifies and quantifies the imposition of a registration fee on offenders who are legally compelled to pay these registration costs, regardless of whether they are still currently under community supervision.
More than half of the states in the US allow their jurisdictions to charge fees for the “privilege” of registering, even those who are no longer on probation. Florida is such a state and several Counties are now charge money to register.
Setting aside the constitutionality of charging a “fee” for something people have no choice in doing or to people who already served their punishment and shouldn’t be hit with new penalties, is the obvious snowball effect that happens when policies like these are implemented. With chronic under-employment (or unemployment) being characteristic of those on the registry, sometimes even a nominal fee is a hardship.
Duval County, Florida, for example, charges people required to register a $25 fee each time they have to register. Failure to pay that fee is a Class D offense (Ord. 2017-665-E, § 32) that is punishable by up to sixty days in jail, plus additional fees.
If you can’t register because you don’t have the fee, you get a registration violation which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of six months on probation with GPS monitoring. Guess who is expected to pay the cost of GPS monitoring (which is generally more than $100/month)? The same person who couldn’t afford the $25 to register in the first place.
Adding obstacles to the registration process creates a dangerous vicious circle. To the community it reduces compliance with registration and consumes resources that could be spent on preventing actual crime (that now has to be spent on arresting, prosecuting and supervising people who couldn’t pay a fee). To the registrant, making compliance impossible puts them in a cycle of violating that’s impossible to emerge from.
Discover more from Florida Action Committee (FAC)
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Unbelievable enough is enough this crap is stupid I’m so sick of this s*** I’m so sick of having to go in there once twice a week 4 times a month this court process is so slow before any of us get any relief we’ll all be dead for a hundred years.
Regardless of whether it is a few or a fine, I think a bigger issue is the waiting to be called for my setting with “Olan Mills”. I go in once a quarter, wait for a minimum of 2 hours, sit for a photo that is 3 months newer than the last one, give them the same info I have given for the last 9 years because I own my home and pay $25 for the service. I am 66 and it should be real fun when I am too old to drive or too decreped to do the old man shuffle into the PD.
My husband is a registered sex offender – charge happened in Michigan 17 years ago. we now live in Whiteside county in Illinios. I believe it was 2 years ago they added a $100.00 registration fee to be paid yearly for my husband.
So if you’re indigent , that you literally can’t pay the registry fees, that is a an offense that carries jail time and more additional fees. Forced to pay for something that you are forced in itself to do – register!
The truth is that they shouldn’t be allowed to refer to it as a “fee” in the first place. When you are forced to pay something or be arrested, it is a “fine,” pure and simple. Fines are a form of punishment, period. I wish the courts would step up and rule correctly.
“What’s the difference between a fee and a tax?
Firstly, a tax is a compulsory payment levied by the government on its citizens and various business firms. … On the other hand, a fee is a voluntary payment to the government for the special services rendered by it in the public interest, but conferring a specific advantage on the person paying it.”
http://www.economicsdiscussion.net/government/taxation/difference-between-tax-and-fees/17448
I ask economic scholars to determine, based on the definition above: “Is this a fee or a tax?”
In states like Illinois with $100 per year tax, I recommend sex offenders go door to door to collect the fee. Fliers can be passed out on Columbus Day letting them know that they can pay online or wait for an in-person visit about three weeks later.
In one way, the registrants do benefit from adding themselves to the sex offender registry, much the way the German Jews benefited from the identification tattoos they received. Those Jews complained they had to move from their home. But they just moved to a camp! Camp can be fun! Since receiving the benefits of being on the registry, lots of folks in Florida are enjoying camp too!
Copy and Paste URL below:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=sex+offender+camp+florida
One of the reasons our government has a registry is so that: Sex offenders know where every day care center is. Most sex offenders probably never knew where all those children were! It is only a matter of time before a clever soul makes a list of all day care centers so that sex offenders can find where not to be.
Sex offenders addresses are available for other sex offenders Think of it as a unique club! If a nationally organized flash mob demonstration was to show up in, let’s say, Butts County GA on Halloween, it can be set up for a fun surprise without the possibility of muggles to ruin the fun!
No worries when buying cheese either! You can be assured you are safe buying from a registrant!
Want that armrest all to yourself on your next flight? Just show proof of registration!
Our friend in Racine, Wisconsin has some recommendations for you: If you are a woman thinking of getting a divorce, and you enjoyed the movie or book, “Gone Girl”, how about enrolling your husband into the club! All you need is to reword the text from a law book that when added to any picture makes it pornographic. Search the Lexus-Nexus for the word, “sylphs”. As a woman attend “Adult Little Girl” night at the fetish club. Our Racine friend recommends “Galaria Domain 2”. Invite a man you meet there to use your husband’s computer. A little “Attribute Magic Pro” and the files were downloaded when you were out of town!
Remember: To the right prosecutor, the “Leave it to Beaver” 1959 Halloween episode is evidence gold!
In person reporting – just like probation…. paying a fee – just like probation. in violation of terms when registering – just like probation.
How is this administrative registering that we do, not like probation ? And probation is a punishment.