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By Kathryn Wiley|Published Date: February 25, 2010
The brutal killing five years ago of a 9-year-old girl in Florida fueled the creation of a boogeyman in politics: the sex offender, according to an article in the St. Petersburg Times.
The designation carries loaded significance in the legislative process, and efforts each year to restrict freedoms of sex offenders win broad support. This year is no different, with proposed measures to require background checks on athletic coaches and forbid some sexual offenders from using the Internet.
But now some legislators are rethinking how the state monitors sex offenders and whether current laws are really making children safer.
“The emotion and publicity and political science that comes into play after a horrific situation tends to create an overreaction,” said Rep. Mike Weinstein, a prosecutor.
The laws also have created unintended consequences. The restrictions on where sex offenders can reside made hundreds homeless and prompted dozens in Miami to live under a highway causeway. In addition, requirements to register those convicted of lewd crimes put the sex offender label on people authorities don’t deem a threat.
“There is no empirical support that restrictions on where sex offenders live prevents sexual abuse or reoffending,” Jill Levenson of Lynn University who studies sex offenders. “Not every person who commits a sex crime is a predatory pedophile.”
Republican State Rep. Rich Glorioso is sponsoring legislation to revamp Florida's sex offender laws by implementing a “circle of safety” to protect children instead of strong residency restrictions on sexual offenders.
The number of people on Florida’s sex offender registry tops 53,500, an increase of nearly 50 percent in five years. The state spends an additional $36 million a year on sex offender programs. Nationwide, the number of registered sexual offenders exceeds 700,000.
To read the article, click here.
For more information about sex offenders in society, visit Justice Fellowship’s resource page here. |
