Should Jalen Kitna Have Been Required To Register as a Sex Offender?
Most people know by now that the attorneys for the University of Florida’s backup quarterback Jalen Kitna cut a deal with the state attorney’s office so that there was no prison time (only 6 months of probation for each of the two second-degree misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct, possibly being released from the second set of probation if he follows the terms of the plea agreement). But the most important break that the prosecutor gave Kitna was that he does NOT have to register as a sex offender.
NPR WUFT in Gainesville, Florida, looked at more than 1,000 cases finding “…there have been seven others in Alachua County since 1996 charged with exactly five counts of possession or distribution of CP – just like Kitna – but only two of the seven had otherwise clean records before they were swept up in the legal system.”
One received a two-year prison sentence with four years of sex offender probation and was required to register as a sex offender. The other person was sentenced to four years in prison and required to register as a sex offender.
Gainesville, Florida, ABC TV 20 interviewed the state attorney’s office for an explanation of why Kitna was not sent to prison or placed on the sex offender registry.
Unlike most people charged with CP who have to rely on a public defense attorney who is grossly overworked, Kitna had a family that could provide two defense attorneys: one from Gainesville and one from Jacksonville.
In the New York Times 2019 article, “The Internet Is Overrun with Images of Child Sexual Abuse. What Went Wrong?” (paywall) by Michael H. Keller and Gabriel J. X. Dance, CP was found to be not doubling or tripling but growing exponentially.
The New York Times article stated: In 2018, “tech companies reported over 45 million online photos and videos of children being sexually abused – more than double what they found the previous year. Twenty years ago, the online images were a problem; 10 years ago, an epidemic. Now, the crisis is at a breaking point.” Conclusion: What we are doing is not working.
Do we feel that a harsher sentence would better serve the cause of justice? Some of our FAC members have stated at our website that they felt the sentence should have been harsher. Or would justice be served by seeing more such plea deals, rather than fewer, if defendants pose a low risk to re-offend?
The sexual recidivism rate also needs to be considered in making research-based policies: The U.S. Sentencing Commission’s Report: Federal Sentencing of Child Pornography Offenses, June 29, 2021 found that “recidivism events by non-production CP offenders released or placed on probation in 2015, after a three-years follow-up period was 4.3%…the lowest recidivism rate for all criminal offenses.”
The United States is leaning toward harsher and harsher sentences as we live in a country where punishment is often considered the only way to change one’s bad behavior, unlike Canada and Europe that place a greater emphasis on prevention and rehabilitation.
Regardless of how one feels about Kitna’s sentence, one thing we can agree upon is that requiring people to register as a sex offender is doing nothing to make society safer — a statement backed up by research.
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I recall when his arrest was first reported, he was quoted as saying something to the effect that he thought that since the images were online, they were not illegal. Assuming that he is not the only person to hold this rather naive opinion, I’m sure there will be plenty of opportunities for the state of Florida to put more naive young people on the registry. Maybe as part of his penance, Mr. Kitna could record a public service announcement to warn kids about the legal dangers of downloading such images.
I’m happy that he doesn’t have to be on the registry because I wouldn’t wish it on anyone (well maybe Ron Book). The optimist in me hopes that this is the beginning of a trend of more appropriate sentencing based on severity of crime and criminal history. Let’s not forget this all took place as a state case in Gainesville, who recently rolled back their residency requirements.
I hate to be one with the “crabs in a bucket” mentality, but yes. why? I had the same charge and I cannot move on. Why does this guy get to resume his life – free of marginalization, daily stress/anxiety and hate – when I cannot?
I do NOT care if this guy is still “young” and a “good “Christian” with his “whole life ahead of him.”
AGREED, Facts Should Matter. My prior post points out that there is no such thing as equal justice under the law in Florida courts or the Federal courts. My CP case was in Federal Court, a completely different jurisdiction than every Florida court. Yet here I am, a PFR in Florida because it’s the only state where I had a much needed support system out of prison. I could’ve gone to other states that have less registry problems, but here I am…virtually unemployment and totally reliant on friends and family for help. Call me a crab. Call me anything you want. Just don’t call me silent on the inequities in our legal systems. Note, they are NOT justice systems.
The Alligator weighs in
https://www.alligator.org/article/2023/07/kitna-follow
I disagree with the women who called Kitna’s case second only to Epstein’s for a travesty of justice. I’m not sure that one can even compare the two. But that appears to be a common perception,to believe that different sex crimes are all the same.
@Eugene
Thank you
I might have to sell a kidney to get the money together. LOL
No one should be on the registry. That said, I am curious because my son was adjudication with-held and the judge in the case wanted to keep him from the registry and actually apologized to him but said he did not have the power to keep him off because it was automatic state law?
Karen, the reason the judge could not keep your son off the registry is that registration is not part of a criminal sentence. If you read the statute under which your son was convicted, the punishment section will specify incarceration and perhaps fines. A judge has great discretion over these things and even, as in your son’s case, to withhold adjudication.
Registration requirements are defined in separate statutes. Your state has apparently listed your son’s crime as one requiring registration. After a conviction, the judge has no say in that matter. Registries serve no tangible positive purpose and should be abolished. Until then , we all must live with them. I’m sorry that your son will be burdened with the effects of registration, likely for some time. I just hope you live in one of the less draconian states.
Old Karen
I too am 50/50 on this. On the one hand we should be happy someone didn’t have to register. On the other hand, 33 years later I am still on a registry that did not exist when my offense occurred, nor when arrested, nor when I was sentenced and not until the same month I got released did it go into effect. So if they is no way to avoid the registry or get off it, why can someone with money do so? And how come other celebs did not avoid it?
Did my release somehow trigger the start of a registry? Sure seems like it as it was perfect timing, said nobody.