Comments on: Weekly Update 2025-08-12-Homeless Face Civil Commitment

By: Bo

Bo — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 05:47:54 +0000

Homelessness among former offenders in Florida is not incidental—it’s the direct result of laws that make reintegration nearly impossible. Restrictions on where individuals can live, work, shop, or even be with family have created a system that punishes beyond the sentence. Laws barring residency near places frequented by children may sound protective, but academic research consistently shows they do not improve public safety.
Public disclosure of offender information, lawn signs, and exclusion from parks, beaches, and shelters serve more to shame families than protect communities. Sex offenders are barred from emergency housing, care homes, and receive no housing subsidies. Florida’s leadership increasingly promotes wilderness camps and civil commitment as solutions—proposals that edge dangerously close to exile for citizens who have already served their time.
The term “sex offender” itself is misleading. It encompasses a wide range of behaviors—from public urination, selfies, streaking, nudity, prostitution and consensual teenage relationships to serious violent crimes. Yet lawmakers treat all under this label as equally dangerous. In reality, a comprehensive review of academic studies shows sex offenders have one of the lowest recidivism rates—second only to murderers. Most new offenses are committed by individuals not on any registry.
Despite completing treatment and showing low risk of reoffense, many are denied access to their own children, not because of the nature of their crime, but because of the label. They are forbidden from parks, beaches, and even casual greetings to children in public. These laws tear families apart and perpetuate fear, not safety.
Former offenders are not monsters—they are fathers, brothers, veterans, and citizens seeking redemption. They need community, not exile. The solution is not more laws or segregation, but common-sense policies that support reintegration, respect human dignity, and prioritize evidence over fear.

By: FAC-3

FAC-3 — Sat, 16 Aug 2025 16:01:15 +0000

In reply to concerned. That's a very ill-informed comment. A study was done in connection with Ford and Anderson v. City of Ft. Lauderdale that performed a GIS mapping of the city to determine the available housing that was compliant with the city's SORR. It determined that less than 1.5% of the entire city was compliant with the ordinance. That's Broward County's largest city. As the article cited, 34% of the registrants in the county are homeless. If you restrict thousands of people to whatever happens to be available, affordable, and has a landlord willing to rent to someone on the registry into 1.5% of a city, the result is homelessness. That has nothing to do with laziness, drug use, or choice. That's simple math.

By: concerned

concerned — Sat, 16 Aug 2025 15:44:34 +0000

In reply to Bwj. homelessness is self-inflicted, if you're lazy, like to use drugs, stay out and peddle, This is why we have homeless

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:32:33 +0000

In reply to Nancy. They are offering civil commitment which is no way help. They hold you indefinitely with no accountability as to how they justify this. Just because they claim to offering help does not make it so. Nancy, you should truly be more skeptical of government and politician's.

By: Grassisgrowingfastnow

Grassisgrowingfastnow — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:27:45 +0000

In reply to VOCAL. I read it. It’s nothing new. The wording was placed to show authority and propaganda; it says nothing else. Our President needs to repeal the SORNA Act before it’s too late. Grab the popcorn folks . I’m on my second bag watching how this Epstein saga of lies and deception unfolds. Decades of political and elite decadence falling on its sword.

By: EdC

EdC — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 04:21:56 +0000

In reply to VOCAL. Could you post a link to the fact sheet? Thanks.

By: VOCAL

VOCAL — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 22:27:59 +0000

This is an informative article. However, it is leaving out an important point that I have been trying to advise everyone of since this order was published, and that is this order targets all registrants, not only the ones who are homeless. There was a fact sheet put out by the Whitehouse that must be read which explains this order. As long as people don’t read the fact sheet they will remain in the dark. FAC should have brought this up in it’s article.

By: Bwj

Bwj — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 21:56:11 +0000

Another thought. Seeing how homeless shelters in Florida, at least the one in Volusia County, do not take registrants , are the homeless registrants going to be helped or are they looking at incarceration because there is no place for them to go. I certainly think that is what the Executive Order is going to do if strongly enforced.

By: Bwj

Bwj — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 20:27:46 +0000

In reply to Nancy.

Earlier this year, the Trump administration gutted the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness — the small agency that had coordinated homeless policy across the government and had been an advocate for housing first policies.Trump has defunded addiction programs that include “harm reduction.” This is certain to disrupt frontline health care programs that work to reduce overdoses from fentanyl and other street drugs. Ann Oliva with the National Alliance to End Homelessness has said, “Institutionalizing people with mental illness, including those experiencing homelessness, is not a dignified, safe, or evidence-based way to serve people’s needs.”
This executive order is forcing people to choose between compassionate data driven approaches like housing, or treating it like a crime to have a mental illness or be homeless,” said Jesse Rabinowitz with the National Homelessness Law Center.

By: FAC-3

FAC-3 — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 17:40:59 +0000

In reply to Nancy. Nancy, I would hardly consider civil commitment "shelter with mental assistance". It's going back to prison indefinitely.