SO registry laws don’t work
According to Professors Meghan M. Mitchell, Kristen M. Zgoba, and Alex R. Piquero in the Tampa Bay Times, those who commit sexual offenses are usually not strangers.
A link is provided to the meta-analysis study of 25 years of findings showing that SORN is not only ineffective but has not reduced sexual recidivism at all.
So why do we have these policies? As a response to fear and outrage over several child murder cases. It is all window-dressing to feel safe.
Our ineffective registry tries to dehumanize individuals, making it more difficult for them to find jobs, secure housing and social support – all needed for a successful reintegration back into society, something that society needs.
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If one needs government advice on how to be a parent probably shouldn’t be a parent. One should use their parental instincts instead of government says x,y,z, which may cause some do, ray, me in the future.
Lol Cherokee if they would have had starbucks eve would have left the apple alone
And I thought that FL newspapers didn’t have the will or the integrity to publish good sound pieces. Refreshing to see some sane voices out there among the brainless chatter that takes place in LE and political circles concerning our issue.
I wish we could bring a parrot into the next public legislative meeting and have it repeat some LE mantra like “Recidivism is frightening and high”, then declare that law makers’ reasoning for making such statements is about as logical as the parrot’s.
Anonymous
And they use the “Recidivism is frightening and high”, routine every time while quoting sources they have not even vetted or verified. Also, they use that as a tactic to scare the public and get on board with registry laws. It is not about public safety, it is about raising money to create task forces, programs and registration offices.
One place I use to register there was an entire wing dedicated to registration enforcement and compliance.
My thoughts are, ok say the registries are all ended. Hello, we will ALWAYS still have a criminal record. I am ok with that but, if people think there is no way to know about us, do like every job does, a background check is still going to show up forever in most cases (There are cases of sealed records but rare for sex offenses).
And any citizen is allowed to go down to the court house and request public records, which most arrest records are. I had a neighbor do that once. He got my file and nailed it to my front door with a note that read “I know about you”. HAHA so he wasted an entire day going there, reading my file, paying for it, hanging it on my door? what a waste of a day.
Now I admit the registry does not give as many details as your arrest records, but how mental do you have to be to take it that far? Again said all that to say the above, even if we win closure of registries, the public still can find things out. Registries just cause more panic and causes neighbors to be divided.
I have had at least 6 families move from my street because I wouldn’t move. Be funny (No, it really would be ironic) if they move and find out later their new neighbor is a just released serial Killer.
(Un-related to Cereal killers, which I am cause I can kill a bowl of cereal in about a minute)
I would imagine that if we could come up with a better solution than the registry to help protect society from being victimized through sex crimes then we might be heard more. I personally can’t think of a way to help society feel protected except with time the will hopefully see that the registry does more harm to society than protecting society. Overall, if you figure in all the tax dollars that jobless registrants could be paying back into society. The economic drain from having not only registrants being homeless but others being homeless as well. Long story short and I guess what I’m trying to say is that if we can come up with a viable solution to the safety of society as whole then our voices will be heard by society. Trying to take away the one thing they have to help them feel safe will put them on the defense. Even though that one thing is really just a false sense of security. Just something that’s been on my mind lately. I try to be unbiased even though the registry has pretty much ruined every aspect my life.
In the meantime
Anyone who owns their home no matter how poor you are, needs to invest in a security system. Break in alarms are optional but at least one camera pointed at the front view of the street with a wide view of the street.
It was my word against two kids throwing rocks at my house until I showed the police the video footage. The kids never came on my street again. (Also funny they did not even live on my street) Their parents probably told them I was the boogy man and that they could not come visit their friends on my street because of me. Thus throwing rocks as revenge, however they violated what their Mother told them and went on my street anyway. That probably got them in more trouble than the rock throwing LOL
Now, all these years later, those two boys are bigger than I am, and are adults. Just hoping they never come back.
I have called the cops over 20 times on incidents like this over the years . This occasion, the two officers actually did their job despite me telling them why the kids were throwing rocks (Me being a registered you know what). The officers even came back afterwards to tell me I would not have any more trouble from the kids and I never did, at least that I am aware of.
Tim,
Since the registry is worthless, any solution is better. This is not hard to do. Here are some possibilities I think merit debate:
Actively parent your children: Be involved in their online activities and don’t just stick electronics in front of them as a babysitter. Lock down devices to prevent access to almost everything except whitelisted apps, especially if the child is younger (or better yet, give them a flip phone without internet, if they need a phone at all <<pro tip – they don’t need one>>). Monitor older children’s online communications, either by software, or by auditing their phone directly.
Actively parent your children: Be actively involved with any adult figures or older children who are regularly in your children’s lives and do not give anyone opportunities to be alone with your children. No one needs isolated access to your child, not even a doctor. Find out the safety plan for any organization who has custody of your children with any regularity. It should include a minimum of two adults who co-supervise at all times. Any activities where children can be isolated with a single adult should not be permitted.
Actively parent your children: Teach them proper moral values concerning sexuality and appropriate/inappropriate behavior in an age-appropriate manner (e.g. good touch bad touch for toddlers, etc.)
Cover the stranger danger safety plan, but realize that your child is probably in as much danger going to school (from an active shooter). Both are rare, but tragic events, and shouldn’t be cause to instill unnecessary fear.
I would think that doing the above would prevent about 99% of abuse that happens with people outside the home. Familial abuse is more difficult to prevent, but if society sought to help troubled individuals before they offend rather than stigmatize this issue, perhaps more would get help before tragedy strikes, and we would see less of this happening in the first place.
All this said, I’m not optimistic that people have the desire to take responsibility for their parenting nor society for the troubled people in their midst, thus we will continue to see the cancer of ruined lives (both victims and offenders) spread until it touches everyone. When more people see the offender as the one in the mirror than as someone on a web page, then, maybe then, we’ll see real change.
Tim, you are suggesting that parents be responsible for their children and that is just asking too much. Many cannot even cloth or feed their children, so being responsible for their safety or requiring them to be responsible for themselves is beyond what can be expected. These parents are so stupid that they think a registry will keep them safe.
Lol I guess complacency and carelessness is a problem for a lot of parents. I personally don’t want to negate from my own mistake (Poor Judgement and bad decision). Even though that most likely that those poor Judgements and bad decisions may have been influenced by what I was exposed to as a child through a baby sitter. At about 3-4 yrs old I had no clue to what was going on or the devastating consequences it would have on my psychy later on in life. I can see that it is a vicious cycle like anonymous mentioned. A child gets molested and then grows up and ends up becoming the molester. I’m not sure on the statistics but I’m guessing those statistics are quite high. The parenting thing seems to be a large issue but get the child who was molested in to therapy seems to be another issue. I personally didn’t remember that I had been molested until I went through the court ordered SO therapy treatment.
Well said Anonymous!
Mind if I use this in my communications to Sheriff’s and the like?
I completely agree
There are viable solutions. There’s an organization called Stop It Now! dedicated to educating families, educators, daycare centers, etc on how to both look for signs of sexual abuse and how to talk to children about prevention of sexual abuse. Imagine if we took all the money wasted on maintaining registries that don’t work and instead invest it into organizations like this that can make a real difference. I quit looking up Megan’s Law registrants years ago because I found it more prudent to teach my children body autonomy and danger sign than to look out for some supposed “boogie man.” Theoretically speaking teaching my children what I teach would protect them from the supposed “boogie man” as well as any would be offender that hadn’t been caught. I personally put ZERO stock in the public registry as it does NOTHING to tell me who is actually dangerous vs who made a mistake at one point in their life that they’ve learned from and moved on (and that’s assuming that all the names listed are actually guilty when I know some are not).
L’s Angel
People do not even need to go on the registry now. The next door app delivers the info directly to people’s phones and computers. After the Nextdoor app started in my neighborhood, neighbors now walk on the other side of the street to avoid my house and when I am outside I get dirty looks. Like I suddenly became a monster.
My charges were from 31 years ago.
Ironically, I keep getting requests from NEXTDoor to put my business on their site
Ed
Ironic Indeed.
I can match that though. Every year the Florida Sheriff’s Association sends me a letter wanting a donation. LOL
For each level of donation you can get something better. A bumper sticker, a license plate, a get out of Jail free card HAHA
(OK the jail card was made up) Maybe……………………..
Same. I always contact them back and ask them if they found some morals or something.
They aren’t exceptionally competent at marketing.
Will
When it first came out, we got an official invitation to join in the mail box. My Mom tried to join but since I am registered at that address, it immediately told her “We are not able to register your address at this time”.
SO, my parents get punished, banned even from something because of me?
Will
They are great a marketing fear and causing more harm making their communities less safe. Registrants should form a group called People Forced to Register Nation: How to give the bird to those who hate and oppress us.
When I got my papers to renew my tags I’d get fliers from Lauren’s Kids asking for money. Not sending money to an organization run by oppressors.
I agree. The funding for the maintaining and enforcement of the registry and all its requirements can definitely be used in other areas that would be more beneficial.
Tim
Although unions are not as power as they once were, (Even run by Mob bosses). Having said that, I was an outsider in the Police department, refusing to join a Union. (Not bashing anyone who does).
Having said that, if you try and move any resources or funding of any kind, relating to law enforcement, you will get the Wrath of Khan like push back. There were so many politics in the Department I usually went home after my shift with a headache. My last days there were less than pleasant.
And I won’t mention specific incidents for my own safety, but there was a lot of “Above the law” law breaking going on. If you snitched, you could lose your job or even worse. I often did not sleep well due to the horrors I saw both on the jobs and “Because” of the job. There was stepping over the line and there was “erasing” the line going on.
This is old news, but still relevant and needs to be shouted from every rooftop in the country until the legislature and all the Karens and Kens get it through their thick skulls.