The Appeal: People On Sex Offender Registry Should Shelter From Dorian in Jail
Barred from other shelters, registrants were left with few options as Hurricane Dorian approached.
For some people convicted of sex crimes in Florida, the only shelter open to them during Hurricane Dorian is the county jail.
In some counties, people on the registry are barred from shelters set up for those evacuating, and being told to go to separate locations, away from children and other community members. If they attempt to stay with friends or relatives, they face daunting residency and registration requirements, according to the Florida Action Committee, which advocates for reform of sex offender registry laws. Failure to comply can mean a felony conviction and incarceration.
In Osceola County, a separate shelter has been set up at the housing agency for “sex offenders,” meaning people on the registry, according to a local news report by WKMG-TV. And in Flagler County, registered sex offenders were directed to go to the sheriff’s office for shelter, according to a WJXT-TV report. The Nassau County Board of Commissioners website advised people on the sex offender registry to seek shelter in the county jail.
“It was such a traumatic experience to be incarcerated. I’m not going to subject myself to that voluntarily,” a representative with the Florida Action Committee told The Appeal. “I’d rather tie myself to a tree.”
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So the only other situations I can think of where you can choose to revoke your freedom for jail, are probation and parole. Both are supervisory & therefore punitive.
What’s up the emergency evacuations rules making the registry punitive?
I have had local sheriff’s tell me they don’t agree with all of the laws, especially wasting resources to check on SO’s on Halloween. One sheriff even apologizes for the quarterly house check. As FAC said, they are only doing what they are hired to do.
The police don’t make the laws, Lauren Book and the like are the ones who make the laws. As long as she and her dad go unchecked, they will never stop making it more difficult for us to live a decent life in Florida.
Although I am in no way comparing us on the registry to those I am about to list, the situation is similar.
Leading up to and during WW11 Jews were separated from others and later worse. They also had to wear a patch on their clothing designating them as a lower class of citizen.
During segregation, African Americans had separate bathrooms, drinking fountains etc and had few if any rights
For many years those in the gay community faced hate and shame.
Like I said, I am not trying to take away at all from what those people went through but when we start treating people like they can never amount to anything or everyone is better than you and you can never change and we are going to hold you down, that is more that pretty sad.
And yes there are people who stick up for us and fight for us like FAC, just as there were German Citizens who hid the Jews. People who hid slaves and helped them escape and those who took in gay youth who were kicked out of their houses.
Hopefully one day we can have our victory and breakthrough as well. We do not need to change the population’s way of thinking, just one compassionate judge who has the authority to correct this atrocity.
Cherokee Jack,
I am trying to eventually use some of the comments made by FAC members who are on the registry with Florida legislators and possibly media outlets. You will remain anonymous. Would you allow me to use your above comments in reference to Jewish people, African Americans, gays, and registrants? I understand if you prefer that I not.
Have at it my friend 🙂 Whatever helps
Let’s not analogize registrants to Jews, African Americans, LGBTQ or any other protected class. I know it sure feels that way, but persons required to register are not recognized, legally, as a protected class; and people who are discriminated against because of their religion, race, orientation, etc. did nothing wrong, whereas people discriminated against because they are on the registry may not deserve the discrimination or it might be irrational, they did something wrong. If we try to make the comparison there’s a clear legal and moral distinction that we can never overcome and is offensive to those we are trying to compare ourselves to.
Here was my first line the paragraph. I was making a comparison of the way they and we are treated because we are different according to other people. We have done our time so point in fact, we should not be on some registry facing possible a higher prison time for violating some law that was made decades after we went to court. The very thing FAC I thought stood for.
Oppression is oppression. Doesn’t matter how your parse and mince words. It IS accurate to conflate our plight to their marginalization. And we are a protected class. Last time I checked we’re human beings with liberty and privacy interests. Those pre-existing rights to safety, security and privacy have been circumvented in the name of security theater. We’ve been reverse engineered to be something that we’re not – sexually dangerously and void of trust.
It’s really undermining and an affront to claim we’re not protected.
Scott,
There are certain persons recognized under US Law to be protected from discrimination. These classes include, sex, race, age, disability, national origin, religion, etc. The laws establishing these “Protected Classes” include; the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, etc.
There is currently no federal law that establishes persons required to register as a “Protected Class” in the legal definition of the term. I truly and sincerely wish there were, but there is none.
Yes, as human beings we are entitled to protection from being physically harmed (for example, criminal laws that prohibit battery) and protection from suppression of our speech (for example, the First Amendment), but we are not a “protected class” in the same sense as someone of religious or ethnic minority. There is simply no “Brown v. Board of Education” for registrants. If you can find it, PLEASE share it!
And RSOs do not NEED to be a protected class. The need is to abolish the registry, or at least abolish public internet registry and revert back to police registry as they have had in the past and still have in some other countries (and states).
Were we to have a non-public registry, most nonsense calling for “protecting” former sex offenders as a “class” would go away.
To the comment of them doing nothing wrong, it would seem that the people punishing them think otherwise.
Two things that prevent elected officials from taking us seriously are comparisons to the civil rights movement and (especially) Holocaust. They are not the same thing and, thank G-d, never will be, so be sure to use caution here.
Jim Crow laws touched every part of life. In South Carolina, black and white textile workers could not work in the same room, enter through the same door, or gaze out of the same window. Many industries wouldn’t hire blacks: Many unions passed rules to exclude them.
In Richmond, one could not live on a street unless most of the residents were people one could marry. (One could not marry someone of a different race.) By 1914, Texas had six entire towns in which blacks could not live. Mobile passed a Jim Crow curfew: Blacks could not leave their homes after 10 p.m. Signs marked “Whites Only” or “Colored” hung over doors, ticket windows, and drinking fountains. Georgia had black and white parks. Oklahoma had black and white phone booths.
Prisons, hospitals, and orphanages were segregated as were schools and colleges. In North Carolina, black and white students had to use separate sets of textbooks. In Florida, the books couldn’t even be stored together. Atlanta courts kept two Bibles: one for black witnesses and one for whites. Virginia told fraternal social groups that black and white members could not address each other as “Brother.”
Though seemingly rigid and complete, Jim Crow laws did not account for all of the discrimination blacks suffered. Unwritten rules barred blacks from white jobs in New York and kept them out of white stores in Los Angeles. Humiliation was about the best treatment blacks who broke such rules could hope for. Groups like the Ku Klux Klan, which revived in 1915, used venom and violence to keep blacks “in their place.”
What’s next? Water fountains designated for “Perfect People Only”? In that case most politicians would lie to themselves and then take a big gulp of water.
My Dad was a student at Central High School in Little Rock Arkansas when the National Guard had to escort the first black students into the school. Dad said some white student were throwing rocks at the black kids. ( No my Dad did not throw any rocks )
Truly I tell you, whatever you did to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did to me.
Matthew 25:40
”Legislators don’t need experience, but prior work in government, business or management is helpful. Public office is very demanding, and candidates must demonstrate effective leadership, communication and people skills.”
This… What is this? This information comes as the result of searching this phrase:
“What does it take to be a legislator”
I’m all for a Judge to do what they have been elected to do and correctly interpret the law.
I do not, however, believe a judge should be elected who hasn’t any experience within the field of law.
How is it then that those who are creating and passing laws aren’t required to have any experience whatsoever? In any field?
I am college educated and try and comment when I have knowledge or just have an opinion. However I have no answer or solution for what you asked. I guess any Joe or Mary can get elected to do something without having any knowledge of the position. When I worked in the police department, I had a college degree and could have gone to some 2 traffic light town and become police chief but I would not have had any idea what I was doing. Education, Knowledge and experience combined make a good candidate for someone in office.
What does it take to be a legislator…? $$$$ An honest, hard working, constitutionally dedicated individual could not afford to be a legislator. Those that are elected are for the most part elected to push a funded agenda.
True sickness
Question: I’m a single father of two. If I had to go to a shelter, what would they do with my children?
Would they make us all go to jail?
You would not be able to bring your children with you. You should contact your local sheriff’s office to see what provisions (if any) they would make.
Where would my minor children go? Or where would they take them?
I’ll tie myself to a tree in my yard before I allow myself to be incarcerated for any reason. They can pucker up and kiss my chocolate starfish because I’m not leaving. Period. I’d move to Canada if I could, except that I’d still be on Florida’s registry, and I’m staying put until that garbage is gone, too.