Reason: Publishing Registered Sex Offenders’ Home Addresses Before Halloween Is Gratuitous, Unethical, and Reckless
Every year in the run-up to Halloween, Patch publishes maps showing the homes of “registered sex offenders” in various cities. Ostensibly, this information is aimed at helping parents who worry that their children might be molested while trick-or-treating. But research shows that such fears have no basis in reality, and these stories—like the warning signs and restrictions imposed by local police prior to Halloween—mainly serve to stigmatize people who have already completed their sentences, along with their spouses and children, who have committed no crimes at all. That stigma invites harassment, vandalism, and violence. Like much local journalism, the practice of publishing these maps is ill-informed sensationalism masquerading as a public service.
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The Duval County ‘HELL-O-WEEN’ Sign…..
How are ‘They’ Distributed? And if So, by what Means?
Who Installs the Signs, How, When and Why?
Thank You
You put up your own sign.
Jacob
Is this like in a hanging you get to pick out and place on your own noose?
Just total humiliation. And yet, somehow under God’s great and expansive firmament, they state it is unequivocally NOT Punishment.
HOW do they keep stating that without busting out laughing?
My Dad use to spank me as a child and tell the the entire time how much he loved me. Never made sense.
No sign will go in my yard without my permission. However, I might be willing to rent space for a sign to be put up…at $1,000 per hour.
Capt
I am glad where I live I do not have to have a sign, I can participate in Halloween (I don’t by freewill) can live close to a school (I was grandfathered in) and only have an officer come to my house once a year. If I had to have a sign, that would make me move somewhere else for sure.
This is odd since I have to register 4 times a year. No one can answer why I have to register 4 times per year, even the S.O task force officer said that doesn’t seem right.
I know why, I filed a complaint against FDLE for false info about me on the registry that the judge forced them to remove. Right after that, I was switched to 4 times a year registration.
Not hiring another lawyer at $5000 a pop to fix it. First off dont have that money. 2ndly why should I pay to fix a mistake on the registry, 3rd No lawyer will guarantee me a correction even though they all swear on their Mother’s graves that it is incorrect and lastly if I pissed off the FDLE the first time, imagine what they would do to me a 2nd time.
Time to stay off their radar and hope and pray for some relief before I am 100. (I refuse to die before age 100 to see if I can get off the registry before then)
Upon re-reading the ordinance, it’s 6:00 A.M. not 5:00 A.M. I am posting it below. As you can see, it covers not only Helloween, but ANY AND ALL holidays and EVENTS.
Sec. 685.104. – Prohibited Activities for Sexual Offenders and Sexual Predators;
(a)Prohibitions and requirements for Sexual Offenders and Sexual Predators; Exemption.
(1)It is unlawful for any Sexual Offender or Sexual Predator to participate in any practice or event, including, but not limited to, any event related to a nationally or locally recognized holiday or seasonal event, if such practice or event is primarily targeted toward non-familial children.
(2)It is unlawful for any Sexual Offender or Sexual Predator to wear costumes, clothing, make-up, mask or anything that would alter a person’s appearance in the presence of any non-familial child if such altered appearance could or would entice, attract or lure a child to congregate around, or move closer to, that person.
(3)Any person designated a Sexual Offender or Sexual Predator shall:(i)Avoid all Halloween related contact with children;
(ii)From 6:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m., on October 31 (or any other day on which Halloween is celebrated) post a sign at his or her residence, including a vessel, or vehicle, stating, “No candy or treats here.” Such signs shall be in letters at least two inches high and shall be legible on the property leased, rented, owned or occupied by the Sexual Offender or Sexual Predator, and clearly visible from the street, waterway, or any property that is open to public access. The signs may be removed after 11:59 p.m. on October 31, or the day on which Halloween is celebrated.
(iii)Except for lighting provided on a year-round basis by the owner or manager of a multi-family residential unit for the purpose of security or walkway or hallway illumination, leave all outside residential lighting off during the evening hours after 5:00 p.m. on October 31 (or any other day on which Halloween is celebrated).
(iv)Not place or allow any display, including but not limited to displays for any nationally or locally recognized holiday or seasonal event or practice, to be visible from the exterior of any Sexual Offender’s or Sexual Predator’s residence, including a vehicle or vessel, or on any property which is leased, rented, owned or occupied by such person, if such display is primarily targeted to entice, attract, or lure a child onto any residence or property, or onto or nearer to any vehicle or vessel rented, owned or occupied by such person. Enforcement of this section shall not be limited to the actual calendar date of any given nationally or locally recognized holiday or seasonal event or practice.
https://library.municode.com/fl/jacksonville/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=TITXIXPUSA_CH685SEOFSEPRRE_S685.104PRACSEOFSEPREX
Darn
I guess I will have to stop being the mall Santa every year .(Sarcasm)
IN all seriousness, in this environment we now live in, not sure why anyone on or off the registry would want kids to come to their door for Halloween. I stopped giving out candy as soon as I moved out of my parents house when I turned 18.
Helloween is approaching again. Here in Duval, we must put out our yard sign “NO CANDY OR TREATS HERE” from 5:00 A.M. to Midnight. Even if “the offender” is out of town, the sign must go out. All this does is open the family up for humiliation, harassment, vandalism, and violence. Thank you Jacksonville $hitty Council.
Oh, and it’s on a Saturday this year so more people will get to see it and organize their “response.”
My home is located on my property and nothing will be placed on my property without my permission. Duval can take their signs and place them where the sun don’t shine. It’s time to take a stand. Such actions by the city council are purely unconstitutional.
JZ
Don’t worry my friend, it is NOT punishment. And it is not discrimination since all other current and ex-felons have to do it to……………………….Oh wait, um let’s look at that statement carefully. Yeah it is punishment.
Can I get a sign in the front yard of the %#$&* down the street who purposely let’s her dog crap in my yard every morning?
If what these bigoted organizations say about me is untrue I do not let it bother me. I do not give Satan a victory. One day they will be held accountable.
So a six-month operation found that the county recidivism rate was 0. We know this because, had there been any signs of sexual misconduct, it surely would have been reported.
To justify the operation, they arrested dozens for registration failures and claimed, against all evidence, that those arrests contributed to safety. Fox 35, not wishing to offend their sources, reported it the way their sources expected, and viewers didn’t blink.
I get why people call to de-fund the police. They should be out solving sex crimes. This ain’t the same thing. The lack of recidivism reflects well in Osceola County registrants.
(Referring to a link that contained people’s mug shots and personal info and was removed).
You DO realize that some of the items you see aired on your local news stations are paid to be broadcast, yes?
Federal funds include it in their grants for ICAC operations for example.
Side note, Osceola county is a ICAC HQ. Just putting that out there.
“The lack of recidivism reflects well in Osceola County registrants.”
Registry Supporters/Terrorists say that it does not reflect well on the registrants. The recidivism is low because the Registries are keeping the sex offenders under control.
I’ve been working on de-funding law enforcement for about 2 decades now. In order for that to be effective, a town/city/state/whatever needs something like 80+% of the people to want that. Because otherwise the law enforcement criminals and the 5% (or whatever) of the population that zealously supports them, are successful at stealing money 1,000 different ways. It is a full time occupation to keep money and other resources away from those vampires.
But it has to be done. Law enforcement is surely 10 times larger than it should be. Government is 50 times too large. We need tens of millions of Americans to step up and tell big government that the wars on us are over. They are not on our side and their days of attacking need to end.
As long as governments and law enforcement have the time and money to run idiotic Hit Lists, they have way too many resources. De-fund. Always.
SO????
I thought we did not allow links that have offenders photos ???
Myself and many others have had links taken down stating FAC does not further drag peoples faces through the mud.
The rules seem to change in here by the second
Link removed
NARSOL’s work is paying off. Patch.com is starting to take out the word Halloween, instead saying that fall is a good time to find out who lives in your neighborhood. In the last part of their articles, they are stating that law enforcement is saying that the registry is of limited use as 90% of perpetrators are known by their victims.
The map is still in their posts, though, along with the phrase “sex offenders”.
According to The Gilmore Mirror, Patch.com says it puts out these maps because “that is what their readers want”.
“Because that is what their readers want”…
Ask Patch if they’ve ever heard the term: “You can’t always get what you want”.
I’m curious. Has anyone ever posted a comment on any of these Patch red dot pages thanking them for posting it? All the comments in the couple that I have seen were either berating them of calling it stupid.
Dustin
I am even more curious. There is already the registry AND Next door and other places calling us out as monsters, WHY do they need another site to do that?
People need to find something else to do with their spare time, good Lord in Heaven. ” Don’t have time to make the kids dinner, I need to catch up on that offender website and make people I don’t even know lives’ miserable”