REASON: Florida’s new sex offender registrant restrictions will not improve public safety
Making it impossible for people to find a place to live after serving their sentences is harsh and counterproductive to preventing further crimes.
Florida lawmakers are preparing to add new restrictions on where certain registered sex offenders are allowed to live, blocking them from housing near public pools, which include splash pads and a variety of water recreation attractions. While presented as a way of protecting children from predators, in truth, these new rules would push registrants farther into the shadows, into homelessness, and in some cases, make it harder to supervise these people because they will go underground or leave the state.
The legislation would accordingly add the new category of “public swimming pools” to residency restrictions for sex offenders with young victims under 16. There are a lot of public pools in Florida, so—not surprisingly—advocates for registrants objected strenuously to the original bill, which was even broader, restricting residency near all state public waterways, not just pools. They argued it would make large swaths of the state off limits and increase housing instability for registrants.
Experts confirm that the proposed policy would, whether intentionally or not, make it harder for affected sex offenders to find places to live. A legislative report found that “The Department of Corrections supervises 6,124 sex offenders, of whom approximately 2,992 could be affected by this bill. The Department states in its agency analysis that 12,985 inmates, when released, would be impacted by the bill. The increased residential restrictions could make it difficult to obtain stable housing. Currently, 334 supervised sex offenders are classified by the Department as homeless and the number will likely increase if this bill takes effect.”
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We keep muddling along one day at a time, but where is the measurable progress? How long do we keep absorbing blow after blow while the governors and city councils grows louder, more restrictive, and more punitive? I look at the Florida Action Committee — an outstanding organization with dedicated people working tirelessly to unite a fractured community — and I cannot understand why we are not making more progress. At this point, incrementalism is not a strategy. I think we need a coordinated, national effort.
1. Build a coalition. There are like minded organizations across the country — and even internationally — that might join forces if there was a lead – NARSOL, human rights groups, advocacy organizations in Boston and the Midwest, the ACLU, and others. The infrastructures exist. What’s missing is the right networking.
2. Work with these groups to develop and publish nationwide – online, a national platform and strategy with milestones and objectives. Staff that new platform organization to organization. Build a coalition. Get more visible public and media attention. What do we have to lose?
Courtroom to courtroom, state by state, city by city is ridiculously slow. We need a clear, public, unapologetic written and coordinated national strategy for change. A blueprint. A declaration. A roadmap that outlines what reform looks like, how to get there, and how organizations can align their efforts instead of operating in isolated pockets.
3. Use the collective weight of these organizations to confront the media and government head on, with a coordinated campaign that:
• Educates the public about the cruelty, irrationality, and bureaucratic ignorance driving current policies.
• Exposes the unproven, unethical, and often unconstitutional punishments being stacked on top of one another.
• Executes the agreed upon strategy with milestones and timelines.
This is exactly how every major civil rights movement in American history has succeeded. This parallels to the racial discrimination of the 50’s is evident. The Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department exists for a reason — to confront civil rights abuses. And what we are witnessing today is a civil rights crisis.
FAC already has a legislative arm. Other groups have legal expertise, research capacity, and national networks. The pieces are all there. Every year of silence allows the opposition to tighten the screws with more ” illogical and morally bankrupt restrictions. We cannot keep waiting for change that we just cannot see or feel, or we could all find ourselves homeless and institutionalized.
The problem is, the highest power in the land is the Supreme courts, and they just turn a blind eye, or remand the case back down to a lower court, knowing they are going to deny us.
My issue is with standards. 50 states and every one of them have different rules, laws and ordinances. Some have a pathway to freedom and others, it is lifetime registration. For God’s sake, I am waiting for Florida to make us register every month. This really is pivoting on the ledge of probation, and yet again, the judges won’t back us on that theory.
They are afraid of the “P” word. You know, that word PUNISHMENT? It is not in their vocabulary because nothing for registered folks seems to be punishment, otherwise we would all eventually be removed from registration. But there seems to be no end in sight. In closing, remember there are dead people still on the registry, what message does that send?
The system is killing our souls
If it were truly “for the children”, then why hasn’t anyone proposed a law the OTHER way around? i.e. no daycares shall be established within 1,000 feet of the residence of a convicted sex offender. The net effect of that kind of law is the same as the current restrictions against us.
Just saying.