Despite the publicly available registry and the banishment zones in all Florida counties, the registry along with its 52 registry requirements and state/county/municipal laws have failed society again. Why does it keep failing to protect society, particularly minors?
In Walton County, FL, a Walton County Sheriff’s Office school resource deputy has been arrested after a victim came forward saying that the deputy had attempted to engage in a sexual relationship with her/him.
There are some sheriffs and politicians who tell their voters that a public registry is going to make their kids so much safer. How did the registry help in this case and the many others that have been shared at our site?
But this individual, as the Walton County Sheriff described it, was in a position of trust; after all, he was not on the registry.
When are people going to wake up and see the registry causes more harm than good? It is not cost effective to continue spending billions of dollars every year in this country to monitor hundreds of thousands of people on the registry who are not sexually re-offending and never will. All of this money would be better spent on education, prevention and victims’ services.
Using an abundance of research and the brilliant minds we have in this country, along with the 10 to 40 billion dollars spent annually to monitor the registry (Belzer, 2015), we could prevent most of the future sex offenses that will be committed primarily by people who are not currently on the registry.
Wouldn’t the children that our political leaders claim they are protecting be so much better off if the sex offenses never occurred in the first place?
If all adults who work with children in an unsupervised setting were subject to mandatory pre-employment polygraph testing to detect proclivities to sexually offend with minors, the majority of sexual offenses committed by non-family members might be prevented. The official government position in most states is that polygraph testing is a valuable tool to help prevent sexual offenses–after all, most people on sex offender probation are forced to take (and pay for) them frequently–so this would be a logical step to take on the part of the government. If government officials really wanted to protect children against sexual victimization, this is one tangible step they could take. Why don’t they?
A great point!
First I’ve seen anyone on this site propose MORE polygraphs. I didn’t even see polygraphs mentioned in the story.
I don’t know about Florida. But in Georgia, a polygraph “examination” is part of the hiring process in all law enforcement organizations.
That shows everyone just how stupid Georgia law enforcement criminals are. They use junk “science” and believe in fairy tales. Which is why they love the Registries fantasy so much. It’s just such a simple solution for simple minds. Just today, I was reading some of Georgia’s propaganda where they push their Registries so much. They might be dumb enough to think Registries are smart. That’s hard to believe, but maybe.
If they believe in junk fantasies then I’m all for forcing them, by law, to use polygraphs. I hope it causes them chaos every day. Let them choke on it. And their Registries.
I think it has more to do with the owners of polygraph companies being Facebook friends and Linkdin connections with county sheriffs and superior court judges than anything else.
Most polygraphists here are prior LE. [Moderated]
I believe if you want a gun and a badge and the power to detain, you should be willing to undergo polygraphs.
Problem is, how would the reaction be if someone failed this polygraph? They would be publicly shamed, and their lives most likely ruined. Polygraph test have been, even by our own supporters, been proven notoriously inaccurate.
Maybe the list of articles which this series has generated should be sent to the debate opponent Dr. Horowitz tried to enlighten for their consideration of the deterrent purpose they believe the registry completes. Nah, why waste the time? Until impacted or an act of God, they will stay behind their closed mindedness with their thoughts on it. Sigh…
Loving FAC’s ‘registry failed them’ series.
I think it’s an illogical statement, the way FAC is using it, and I wish they’d stop it! The arguments are great, and certainly there are numerous failures. It’s just not possible for the registry to fail when it only concerns convicted persons. An example of the registry failing would be a registrant reoffending. Spock out.
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I think you’re missing the point. The registry is sold as a way to prevent and eradicate sexual abuse. Since we know, from statistics, that most sexual abuse is not through recidivism of those who have been convicted, FAC is putting a spotlight on the fact that the registry doesn’t accomplish its stated goal.
https://www.q13fox.com/news/end-svp-releases-into-our-communities-resident-protest-missing-sex-offender