Is there something wrong with Florida?

[Savannah]

I can’t be the first person to point out that Fark.com has a separate category just for Florida. Of course there’s something wrong with Florida.

[BrainGlutton]

@Kalhoun

I’m not sure how this correlates to child molesters. Can you elaborate?

Simply that nothing that Florida elected officials decide on should surprise you. They’re responding to mixed signals.

[Autolycus]

Florida is so hot that I think it fries the brain. Just saying…

[panache45]

@Kalhoun

I’m wondering why they don’t build some half-way houses or something.

What you don’t understand, dear, is that Florida ***is ***a half-way house.

[nashiitashii]

@SnakesCatLady

A local law enforcement officer here was quoted as saying (paraphrased) “I think it’s stupid. These people have to live somewhere, and a lot of them are living with their parents who keep a close eye on them. If they all have to move who-knows-where it is going to be a lot harder for us to keep track of them.” He was also concerned about enforcement - who’s going to do all the measuring?

I don’t have kids, and maybe I would feel different if I did. I honestly feel this type of law is cruel and unusual punishment. If you want sex offenders to pay for the rest of their lives, spell that out in the law they are convicted under. But to release someone after they have “paid their debt” and then tell them - “oh, but you can’t live in a city or anywhere you possibly might be able to get a job”. Some of these guys have families - what are they supposed to do?

Part of my frustration with the system is that there is no differentation made between someone who got drunk at a outdoor concert and got caught pissing in the bushes and the guy who committed unspeakable crimes against a child.

I can totally understand why parents would be in favor of this law. If I had kids I probably would be, too. It just seems inhumane to me. Setting them up to fail again.

I also think it’s pretty bad that a lot of these regulations that are being passed in regard to sex offenders don’t make distinctions between very different crimes. (And I had no idea that getting caught peeing in public was a sex crime.) Part of it seems to be the vigilante groups who think that all sex offenders are child molesters and serial rapists, so it ends up punishing the guy who turned 18 before his 17 year old girlfriend (with parents who didn’t like who she was dating) did or the guy who chose the wrong place to relieve himself at a concert. I’m not saying that we should abolish the RSO programs in general, but there has to be a lot of changes to make the crimes in which registering are mandatory are specific and are noted. Just as there are plenty of “rehabilitated” child molesters who are supposed to keep their registration current but don’t, there are plenty of guys who got a raw deal out of dating a girl a year younger than him who are getting bad treatment from busybody neighbors who think he’s in the habit of raping little kids.

[rbroome]

@Kalhoun

Florida housing sex offenders under bridge - CNN.com

Some very disturbing stories come out of Florida. I’m wondering why they don’t build some half-way houses or something. It sounds like they’re working, but simply can’t find suitable housing that fits the legal parameters:

This doesn’t stop them from being near children at all; it just forces them to live under the viaduct. As far as I can tell, they’re not on any sort of monitoring system. I don’t get it.

Opinions?

IIRC, the district attornies and sheriffs of a couple of mid-west states are actively campaigning for the repeal of similar laws in their states. These people have nowhere to live and hence can’t be traced and have nothing to lose. Quite aside from the consequences to the criminals, society loses with these laws. And the kids end up in more danger than otherwise.

In california, I believe, the state is building homes on prison property because there is no place in the entire state offenders can be paroled to.

[Evil_Captor]

Y’know, lawnorder types are always talking about the need for people to “respect for the law.” It seems to me that the shoes fits on the other foot, too. If you want people to respect the law, you should see that you pass laws that reasonable, intelligent people can discuss without rolling their eyes in exasperation at the stupidity of it all. Not making a distinction between a teen boy who made the mistake of doing it with his teen girlfriend and a serial rapist pedophile is just stupid, that’s all there is to it.

[tashabot]

I actually had this conversation with a friend of mine the other day. She has a six year old.

She got a letter in the mail that a registered sex offender was going to move in near her. She got very indignant and started talking about protesting.

I just stared at her in disgust, and then brought up the sex offender registry and brought up his stuff. He got busted numerous times for statutory rape - with the same person, his 16-year-old girlfriend when he was 19 - and was classified as a chronic statutory rapist. Over 20 years ago. As far as I can tell, he’s married to said girlfriend now; in fact, according to the public records, they got married shortly after she turned 18.

Then I told her that she shouldn’t be worrying about the guys on the registry. They’re subject to all kinds of weird stuff here in Carson City. What she should be worrying about is the guys who haven’t been caught yet. Those are the ones that scare me.

~Tasha

[BrainGlutton]

Here’s a telling fact about Florida: Our new governor, Republican Charlie Crist, might be gay. Or he might not. But the rumors surfaced well before the election. If he had been running for governor of, say, Georgia, even a persistent rumor would have killed his chances. Like I said, purple state, mixed signals, no clear political center-of-gravity.

[Zebra]

Basically the laws are trying to ‘banish people from the kingdom’.

Maybe the county should make all sex crimes mandatory life in prison but paid for by some other county.

[Beware_of_Doug]

One of Florida’s problems is it has too damn many lawyers. I can only assume this is because, as in so many other things, it’s obligated to take New York’s surplus.