Sex-offender registries need to clean up their act
…it is important to understand that many registries are bloated with names that probably shouldn’t be there.
Public urination, streaking or sex between consenting teenagers can land a person on the registry. A man involved in a nasty divorce and falsely accused by an ex can find himself locked into years on a registry. Children as young as 8 have been added, sometimes for innocent contacts, like hugs or kisses. In Colorado, a 15-year-old boy identified as T.B. was found guilty of sexually exploiting children after he sent a nude selfie to two girls, aged 15 and 17, and they reciprocated. T.B. was required to register as a sex offender for at least 20 years. That law has now been changed so teenaged sexting is no longer a felony, but it’s too late for T.B. His educational and vocational life has been stunted by his foolish teenage act.
Another problem? There is no uniformity to these registries. Some states have stringent rules about where an ex-offender can live and work. A sex abuser of children, for example, will likely be prohibited from residing with a relative who has kids or living near a school or playground, or attending a church where children worship. In some states, each routine check-in is followed by officers blanketing their neighborhood with flyers showing the registrant’s photo, address, car license plate and the age of their victim. On Halloween, some states require the convicted to post a sign in their window warning children not to knock.
It is way past time for authorities to take a second look at these registries, cull the names of those who truly pose no danger to society and crack down on those obvious predators – and their slick lawyers – determined to beat the system
[FAC NOTE: Although we STRONGLY believe registries should be abolished ENTIRELY, we are sharing this article for discussion]
Discover more from Florida Action Committee (FAC)
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
I have been on Sex Registry for 18 yrs.
I live in Orlando, Fl., and have been removed from further registration in the State
of Tenn.
I had sex with my now deceased wife, Michelle, I was 30 yrs older.
We married in Birmingham, Al, she was 18.
We had 2 children.
BECAUSE OF THE REGISTRIES AND THOSE DRACONIAN RULES, I HAD TO LEAVE HER, THE RULES DID NOT LET MY CHILDREN HAVE GOOD SCHOOLS, PARKS, AND ANY FAMILY FUNCTIONS WHERE SEX OFFENDERS WERE NOT PERMITTED.
I AM NOT ALLOWED WITH MY FAMILY AT HURRICANE SHELTERS OR EVEN END OF LIFE, NURSING HOMES!
OUR COUNTRY WAS FORMED BY ALL AGE GROUPS OF AMERICANS.
OUR FOREFATHERS WOULD FIRE THEIR MUSKETS AT THE CAPITOL TODAY OVER THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS, PURSUIT OF LIFE AND LIBERTY AND JUST THE COMMON SENSE PURPOSE OF A REGISTRY CREATED TO PUNISH ALL CHILDREN OF SEX OFFENDERS WHILE HYPOCRISY VIOLATES CONSTITUTIONAL LIBERTIES.
THIS WHOLE MESS IS ABOUT FEAR.
GO BACK IN TIME TO THE KENT STATE KILLINGS, DURDURING THE VIETNAM WAR.
IMAGINE IF ALL THOSE PEOPLE AND THEIR FRIENDS ADMITTED TODAY THEY HAD SEX WITH A FEMALE UNDER 18,,,, IF THIS RETROACTIVE NONSENSE WERE TRULY APPLIED, I KNOW AT LEAST 60 PERCENT OF OUR POLITICIANS WOULD BE SEX OFFENDERS AND THAT THEY FEEL SAFE WITH, ” LOOK OVER THERE, NOT AT ME.”.
THE ONLY WAY TO GET THIS COUNTRIES ATTENTION IS IN THEIR POCKED BOOK.
WE NEED TO SUE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IN ” CIVIL, FEDERAL COURT, WHERE CHILDREN, WIVES, AND OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS GET TO TESTIFY TO THE CRUEL AND UNUSUAL DOCTRINES BE VIOLATED AND WHAT ARE YOU AS A GOVERNMENT DOING PUNISHING THE INNOCENT CHILDREN OF THIS SEX OFFENDER REGISTRIES, THE SAME CHILDREN YOUR SUPPOSE TO PROTECT!!!!!
WE MUST TAKE CASES INTO Federal Court under Civil Action, not CRIMINAL FOLKS.
” AS AN AMERICAN, YES I DID SOMETHING AND PAID THE PRICE, I DEMAND MY FREEDOM, UNDER THESE CONSTITUTIONAL GUIDELINES.
ONE LAST SAD TRUTH!!!!
MICHELLE , MY WIFE, NOT A VICTIM, COMMITTED SUICIDE ON OCT. 19 , 2016.
MY CHILDREN WERE ADOPTED TOGETHER, I MADE SURE, BECAUSE THE SEX OFFENDER REGISTRIES ARE NOT STOPPING ANYTHING!
OH YEA, TRY TO FIND OUT HOW MANY CHILDREN ARE LANDING ON THESE REGISTRIES, YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE, THE AGE, MAKES THEM SEALED RECORDS,?????
M SNYDER
Good luck with that. In case you haven’t noticed, they give less than a shit about you, me, or anyone registered here in FL. Don’t care about the impact on registrants families. etc. You are a social pariah until you die. Oh wait, they wont even remove you then. Thank God this BS will not carry over to the after life.
Probation is in two county then state handles residency both work on different system lets go start fighting back if probation you see every month keeps saying to to residency then write or call state probation they might ok something and county will find a different area to say no too they should all be together on same system yes jax fl has two the state called us ones in jax fl check out blake luker all to stick togther lets fight even harder including family
“Each state’s registry must consist of different “tiers” of punishment depending on the age of the victim and the severity of the crime.”
Another example of how even the general public intuitively assumes the registry is part of an offenders “punishment”
The following has been e-mailed to the author:
Thank you Diane Diamond and Albuquerque Journal for tackling this important but difficult topic with care. I was particularly interested in the author’s observation, “state-by-state differences mean crafty, habitual predators can game the system simply by moving to a more tolerant location.”
That is true, but it’s irrelevant in that there’s little to no evidence that that scheme results in more sex crimes. In fact, there is no evidence that states with lighter registration schemes suffer higher rates of sexual victimization than do states that impose more punitive schemes.
More typically, now that registries now cover nearly one million Americans, state-by-state differences DO mean that former offenders who no longer pose a risk to the public, can get on with their lives and live productively.
Culling the registry, as you recommend, might help deploy our law-enforcement resources more efficiently, to where they are most needed. But unfortunately, that will not protect us from high-profile cases such as Jerry Sandusky or Larry Nassar, both of whom were never listed on a registry and never will be.
We need to ask, what do we want our sexual registries to accomplish? If we feel that all those who’ve served out their sentences for these crimes, deserve additional retribution along with their families, then registries may be accomplishing what we want them to. But if what we want from our registries is to prevent sexual harm from occurring in the first place, then, given all we’ve learned these past few years, we may need to start from scratch.
“State-by-state differences mean crafty, habitual predators can game the system simply by moving to a more tolerant location.”
That is true but irrelevant in that there’s little evidence that that scheme results in more sex crimes.
More typically, state-by-state differences mean that former offenders who no longer pose a risk to the public, can get on with their lives and live productively.
if they only included the names of the active real threat predators in community’s (not in prison for life) then the registry’s would be almost bare. Could not justify the expense to the tax payers. How can you explain a registry with maybe 100 or less people versus a registry with almost a million? When you want to funnel illegal money and garner elections using fear mongering you need a tool that instills fear. 1 million names of neighbors inspires fears. They knew from the start they would never have enough names top make the registry’s justifiable if they only included actual threats and that is why all the consensual, underage, domestic, ect….. never was an accident.