As evidence continues to mount on the failure of state sex offense registries, Louisiana continues to be in the news as its leaders are only seeing an increase in the amount of sex crimes committed against children.
According to WAFB9 in Louisiana, “…one investigator (from the Attorney General’s office) described the fight (against sex crimes) as ‘a war the state is losing.’ There are so many cases, it’s a tidal wave of tragedy.” THE REGISTRY IS FAILING THE STATE OF LOUISIANA!
In a recent Chicago Sun Times article, the Chicago registry is also failing while law enforcement “is wrestling with big concerns over public safety and how to use its limited resources to fight violence…Some victim advocates argue that increasing the number of police working on registries is a distraction from more important work.” THE REGISTRY IS FAILING CHICAGO!
In Florida, where registration is for life, our registry is only growing. Our state is ripe for explosive issues to occur that could drastically change our registry as we know it today, if not bring it down completely. THE REGISTRY IS FAILING FLORIDA!
After decades, why hasn’t the registry helped to reduce sex crimes against children? Because almost all sex crimes are committed by people not on the registry.
Then what is the answer? Abolish the registry and focus on prevention.
Even Louisiana state Senator Barrow, the author of the medieval bill proposing castration, is now saying we need to take a more proactive approach, such as educating parents and kids.
Thanks to the help of some of our members, 10 mail-outs have been sent through the U. S. Mail to all 67 Florida sheriffs. One particular mail-out contained a cover letter along with some research-based recommendations for prevention of sex crimes, particularly against minors. This information will also be mailed to some of our Florida legislators along with sending it to Louisiana Senator Barrow.
If the registry is so effective, why do we not put all citizens on a registry of some form? The basis would be their potential to commit a crime. That way…based on the thought that the registry prevents repetitiveism…we would no longer have murders, robberies, car jackings, home invasions, etc. Just think about how safe we would be if all citizens were on a registry!
We can start it off with Politicians.
I believe the registry failed from day one because it doesn’t address the (root) cause. No other felon has to register and that (in form) is discrimination. There are some countries that do not recognize the US registry (and some do). Even in Europe (EU) their registry is for law enforcement (ONLY) and as a whole (the EU) per cap.of population has a much smaller number of registrants.
As a registrant myself I believe that there are SO’s who should be monitored whether it be for life or a period of time (because of the age of there victim). SO laws do not address the causing issues they only serve to hide them giving politicians ammunition and cause.
K-Lo
Even if I agreed with a registry, no one should be retroactively put on it. If there was not one when you were sentenced, but they passed the law afterwards, you had zero chance to plea bargain using that as ammo. I gave the prosecutors everything they wanted and more but no mention of any future registry was ever explained because it did not exist.
While there was a registry, you committed a crime, then at least you knew that was in the cards of your future. This is not like retro active pay that everyone loves. This is retroactive punishment and anyone who does not agree, has never been on the registry or have a loved one who is/has.
I am not mad at you but the fact you agree with a registry is worrisome. Am I saying someone who commits a sex crime should not be held accountable? No. But should be get the scarlet letter for life while murderers finish their sentence and get to somewhat move on. What about 15 time felons who, other than a record, get to live a normal life, NOT on a registry?
Ok, you mentally wore me out lol
I would guess that many of my fellow Registrants are equally frustrated/ irritated/ irate that these asshat lawmakers keep adding new rules, regulations, restriction and punishments for existing Registrants while doing
N-O-T-H-I-N-G to fund or promote prevention!!
Zero!! Zilch! Absolutely NOTHING for prevention!! 😠
David
I am just waiting to get burned at the stake. I think figuratively we have already had that happen, Numerous times over.
Quick!! More funding and more U.S. Marshals for compliance checks!! Clearly, that’s the problem!! We need more compliance checks!! 😒🙄
(Oh yes, sarcasm intended!)
David
I am thinking of getting a Compliance officer as a roommate. That way I can get a check every hour while we watch cops together on the couch eating popcorn LOL
On the law enforcement side, the registry is failing, but on the lawmaker’s side, it is doing great (or so they tell their constituents) and they’re fighting really hard…so…please re-elect me so I can keep lining my pockets with your $$. it’s not going to change unless one of the lawmakers family becomes a registrant…
The flaw in that reasoning is that any given lawmaker would have enough influence with prosecutors to keep his family members off the registry, regardless of whatever crimes those family members may have committed. Judges don’t make much difference – they just rubber stamp their signatures on whatever the DAs put in front of them as long as the signature block is correct.
This whole issue is over a Governor brother in law avoided the registry until a new lady was hired at Registry Board and the man got placed on the registry. The Governor then fired her. https://all4consolaws.org/2023/03/or-judge-considers-requests-for-triple-damages-in-sorb-head-ouster/ Maybe this case will shine light on this issue.
Thought it was relevant to yours conversation.
If most sex crimes are committed by people NOT on the registry, that means the registry is working— through necessary monitoring and surveillance, it is preventing those ON the registry from re-offending. That’s why those not on it are doing it!
That’s not my opinion. It’s not even true. But notice that that’s how people (SMART Office, sheriffs, internet trolls) respond whenever you point out that sex crimes aren’t committed by those “on the registry.”
The truth is more profound than that (repeat after me): over 90% of sex crimes are committed by those with NO CRIMINAL RECORD at all! This was true in the years before we had public registries and remains unchanged today. Introduction of registries did not change that stat at all! See FAC’s research page. I think Guy Hamilton-Smith has tweeted about this also.
FAC and other advocates, I ask you again to please STOP planting a rhetorical trap for yourselves with, most sex crimes are committed by those “not on the registry.” Forget about that. Change it to NO CRIMINAL RECORD. Committed by people who would not have been eligible for the registry in the first place!
Thank You,
Jacob
Prison and ruining my families’ life was enough for me to get my head straightened out. The registry does not prevent me from doing crap. If I wanted to offended again I could. I choose not to, the registry does not prevent me from offended, it prevents me from LIVING, a normal life with my family.
I have been fired from 12 jobs. NONE due to me doing anything wrong. I was always honest about being on the registry. Every time someone found out and threatened to boycott the business or protest in front of a store, I was let go. And I do not blame the businesses, they all gave me a chance. If it is me getting kicked to the street or the business getting bad press, I do not blame them one bit.
If not for the registry, I would have a job. So yeah folks, the registry works, at destroying families. My victim moved on and we have not been in contact for 32 years. They did not even come to my court hearings.
The registry prevents nothing except for life after one pays their debt. It’s a form of extended punishment, and is quite literally worse than probation (except for sex offender probation) in some states.
Well said, as always, Cherokee!
Jacob, please post some links to this research (90% of sex offenses are committed by someone with no criminal record).
They are posted at FAC’s research page at https://floridaactioncommittee.org/press/articles-and-studies-containing-research/
For example, “sex offenses are, by a very large margin, committed by people known to the victim who have no criminal history, data show.” https://www.criminallegalnews.org/news/2018/may/15/ex-offender-registries-common-sense-or-nonsense/
For the same reason, we also need to use caution when citing the the low recidivism of “registrants.” The low recidivism of registrants is true but irrelevant, because we have been doing recidivism studies since prior to the registry as we know it, so it’s not the registry that’s producing those low recidivism rates.
Thank you, Education Committee, for engaging me on this important point.
Jacob, please cite a specific statistic or research. Neither link points directly to the research that backs up your statement of “over 90% of sex crimes are committed by those with NO CRIMINAL RECORD…”.
Above source, taken from FAC’s research page, also points out that “the Association for Treatment of Sexual Abusers similarly found that 93 percent of sex offenses are committed by first-time offenders.”
Similarly, in Ohio in 1999, 92% of those convicted of a sex offense against a child and 93% of those convicted of a sex offense against a teenager were first-time offenders. (Moore KF. Report to the Ohio Criminal Sentencing Commission: sex offenders.) (Note 23 of Bonnar-Kidd as linked on FAC’s research page at
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2820068/#!po=0.769231 )
Analyses by Sandler et al, linked more than once on FAC’s research page, “also showed that over 95% of all sexual offense arrests were committed by first-time sex offenders, casting doubt on the ability of laws that target repeat offenders to meaningfully reduce sexual offending.” Using arrest data going back prior to the registry, “the current study also found that 95.9% of all arrests for any RSO, 95.9% of all arrests for rape, and 94.1% of all arrests for child molestation were of first-time sex offenders. Thus, as none of these offenders had any prior convictions for sexual offenses, none of them were on the sex offender registry (or would have been on the registry had it existed) at the time of their offenses.” While Sandler et al specify first-time “sex” offenders rather than first-time offenders, that remains an important distinction from “registrants” if we are discussing the efficacy of the registry, wouldn’t you agree?
Did I answer the question?
I suspect that most sex offenses are committed by someone who for some reason or another did something out of character and are now paying a price by being on the registry. They would not commit another offense, registry or not. All the registry is doing is keeping peace loving, law abiding citizens from returning to society, getting a job, having a normal family life, and in many cases punishing family members. The time and effort that goes into maintaining the registry is no way justified in making anyone any safer…other than justifying a pay check for those who operate the registry. I have learned to tolerate the registry while I live a nearly normal life with my family and friends.
Except that studies of actual arrest reports have shown that the number of arrests of first time offenses and repeat sex offenses remained constant in NY in the 10 years before and after the registry was implemented, so the claim that the registry works is simply wrong.
Source: Does a Watched Pot Boil? A Time-Series Analysis of New York State’s Sex Offender Registration and Notification Law
November 2008Psychology Public Policy and Law 14(4):284-302
DOI:10.1037/a0013881
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232505213_Does_a_Watched_Pot_Boil_A_Time-Series_Analysis_of_New_York_State's_Sex_Offender_Registration_and_Notification_Law
I see that Derek and I cited the same study at the same time, one that encompassed arrests from before there was any registry.
By now, y’all and I and FAC I think can all agree that almost all sex crimes are committed by people WHO HAVE NEVER BEEN CONVICTED OF A SEXUAL OFFENSE. They would not have been eligible to have been listed on the registry whether there had been one or not. THAT’S why we don’t need registries. (I previously cited articles suggesting “no criminal record,” but I see folks aren’t comfortable going that far, and that’s ok).
Why am I making a big deal out of this? In committee hearings, commissioners meetings, or communications with officials, you should know by now that people respond to, “almost all sex crimes are committed by people not on the registry” with some version of, that’s because the registry is great, and our sheriffs do a great job enforcing compliance. So the statement is an incomplete truth that plants a rhetorical trap for ourselves. (The statement, “REGISTRANTS exhibit low recidivism,” as worded is also a mistake, for the same reasons).
To summarize:
Most sex crimes are committed by those never convicted of a sex offense.
There is a low re-offense rate among those convicted of sex offenses.
This was true prior to the introduction of registries as we know it.
Registries have made no noticeable difference in these.
Are we on the same page yet? What am I neglecting?
If registries are not ended, I fear eventually there will be more people on registries than those that are not. The prisons will be so overcrowded that there will have to be super prisons.
All other felons when done with their sentences get another chance. And many of them re-offend. They still are not put on a registry. But many of us never got a 2nd chance and were retroactively put onto the registry, and yet some felons have 10, 15 even 20 crimes and no registry.
I’m on the registry for an entrapment case, lies from the former Oconto DA. Nice to know I need to be ‘watched’. All of it is bullshit!
Philip
Can you tell me what your sentence was? I have heard of people in sex stings where no victim existed getting 25 years where others who had sex with a real minor got probation for 8 years. Seems a bit lopsided justice to me. I guess my opinion is worth a cup of coffee and a donut.
Prevention starts in the classroom. Sex Offender counseling surrounding the good lives model, cognitive reconditioning and behavioral therapy is something that schools should be teaching children, ie, how to identify and manage thoughts and emotions. Among other tools, these are the prevention techniques and strategies being employed on OFFENDERS. However, prevention counseling should be rooted in children’s development, because not all parents have the tools to teach their children.
Its far simpler to reduce these crimes before they can occur rather than after
While I don’t support the registry myself and would live to see it abolished as well. I just want to point out that the argument that sex crimes are mostly perpetrated by people not on the registry is not a very good argument. It leaves the door open for a counter argument of sex crimes are mostly not perpetrated by people on the registry because it is a successful deterrent. Which for the most part I know is not the case. Yet, it does leave the door open for that argument. Js
Tim
I have always thought the same way but did not want to stir the pot or ripple the waters. That theory may come back to haunt us. I stated on another post, the registry does not prevent me or anyone else to act on their urges.
I took the mandatory therapy classes required by probation and I was the first person to be released after only 3 months (In the county I was in at the time) because I was not denying what I did, was repentive and remorseful. Am I patting myself on the back? No. Even I was shocked when I got released from the group. I knew I could never go down that path again.
But if you ask some lawmakers, they state we are all just one urge away from giving in and re-offending. Or the other theory is, we just haven’t been caught yet.
Tim P. is right. We are making the mistake of opening ourselves up to false counter-arguments.
Most sex crimes are perpetrated by those with NO CRIMINAL RECORD. This was true even prior to there being a registry. Introduction of the registry has not changed that stat at all.
Let’s keep working on our message.
Thank you for this report and your hard work!
It is obvious to any rational person that the registry is, indeed, failed policy!
Has anyone ever computed the dollar amount for law enforcement resources dedicated to home checks and paperwork on travel itineraries etc. across the country? The only thing that will get the attention of reasonable law makers is the bottom line in dollars. Now a Justice ,Kavanaugh was the clerk who provided the faulty recidivism math at the one time we could have had the registry overturned . Doubt if he would vote in favor of overturning it now.
Richard
Lawmakers have proposed and approved a blank check for any and all registry related resources over the years. And what do they have to show for it?
We have all asked for ONE crime they can prove the registry stopped? We are still waiting for those 1000s of pages of research and proof of all the victims who have been spared due to registry enforcement.
Yes, JJJJ, but the Registries serve as “bread and circuses” to amuse the Karen’s and Kens of the world!
And don’t forget the comfy, warm feeling you get from the false security Registries provide. Your children are 100% safe so long as they’re nowhere near a Registrant. After all, only sex offender commit sex offenses, right? 😑
David
It is not even that. Say for example it is a registered person. And that person is registered and they approach their kid. Does a billboard pop up and alarms go off with a warning? A registry will not stop anyone who is Hell bent on doing something.
What it is good at doing is destroying families and tearing them apart as rotted fruit is thrown at our loved ones. Or the kids, grandkids and bullied because they live with a sex offender/register person/Government captive.