As reported by Broward Politics over at the Sun Sentinel (2/25/10), it would appear several state politicians are finally coming to grips with the unintended consequences of Florida's sex offenders laws.
But I think most still cling to the stereotype. You know, the creepy guy in a trench coat who hangs out in the parks.
(...)State Rep. Martin Kiar, D-Davie, disagreed with his colleagues.
He said the local restrictions are designed to “make sure that these deviants are kept away from our children. These proposals in Tallahassee would weaken your ordinances.”
If the state overrides the city, town and village restrictions, setting a rule prohibiting sex offenders within 1,500 feet of schools and other kid-friendly places, Kiar said, “it will bring these deviants closer to our kids.”
I'd like Kiar to define "deviants" for me. Would that be our family member or friend or neighbor who found themselves caught up in some low-level offense that state legislators have deemed sexual in nature?
Or possibly a teenage boy who wears the RSO label like some sort of permanent tatoo for sending out nude pics of his most recent girlfriend to any and all friends with a cell phone?
How about all those people who will never work again in a chosen profession because a) the license is lost due to the felony conviction or b) residence on the registry is the equivalent of leprosy as far as employer liability?
I could go on and on about regular people who have made a poor behavioral choice resulting in a lifetime sentence of registration as a sex offender, many of whom sustained and survived severe physical and sexual abuse themselves as a child.
(BTW, Kiar--as part of a Broward county commission task force--sat right alongside One of Us, an offender that helped make recommendations about laws governing where sex offenders can live).
And I loved this observation.
(...)
Wilton Manors Mayor Gary Resnick, president of the Broward League of Cities, said as a matter of principle the state shouldn’t meddle in the decisions the local governments have made.“The solution in every city is going to be very different,” he said. “A one-size-fits-all is not going to work here.”
Fairly ironic, this one-size-fits-all comment.
Because it certainly worked for the Florida Sex Offender Registry, lumping all offenders as if one and the same.
Florida Legislators. We are not who you think we are. It's time to undo the damage done.
Roll these laws back.
8 comments:
Kiar seems to really go after sexual predators. I heard him speak and he understands that there is a distinction between predators and offenders and when he made the comments above, he was referring to predators.
A big problem being that our Legislature had blurred the line so much as to what a predator IS.
You don't even have to touch anyone and you can be a predator.
R and J's can be predators. The laws they pass in general make no distinction between the two either. It is just too easy to make political points going off against RSO's and RSP's. I think it shows that the politician has nothing else in his favor and cannot produce good legislation or work ethic if RSO's are their biggest target.
IT GET's A VOTE PURE AND SIMPLE!
The "problem" is the lawmakers:
They know the truth about the low sex offender recidivism.
They know that one sex offender is not like the other.
They know there is a distinct difference between and real predator and a offender.
BUT....making bad laws without regard for the truth, gets them a vote! Doesn't it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Watch the video at YouTube about this issue. It's only 1 minute long. Click on my name above.
One last point. Phil Heimlich (the commentator in the above video made the comment that "if they could not just hop in their cars and find their victims...."
That was a bad statement as recent studies have shown that 96% of ALL NEW SEX OFFENSES" are committed by persons who have never been on the registry before.
Click on my name to read the article.
Kiar is not smart enough to be a democrat. OUT HE GOES. Let him join his real party in real life. NEOCON republicans. (the republicans have been infiltrated just like the dems with all manner of tribe diluting scum)
Kiar is actually a diehard Democrat who always fights for Democratic ideals. He just goes after predators. I believe most Democrats would agree with his position. What is wrong with that.
As stated in one of the above comments,the term predator doesn't always legally mean what would be immediately assumed by lay people.
Just like offender.
What's wrong with any elected official agreeing with this position? It misleads voters as to the truth of keeping kids safe.
It's the Niemoller. If Kiar hasn't read his history he's not smart enough to be a Democrat. If he fights for Democratic ideals this would make him a UNION person. A union person would see IMMEDIATELY that overzealous and Unconstitutional punishment of some (like the yellow star that sunny famously defended as now belonging to the new outcasts of society) is just plain wrong.
When you are bastardizing any group of people that is WRONG. NO thinking person can get past the part where they pay finder's fees, plant the porn and frame people. Like ummm the fed prosecutor from pensacola. NO TRUE DEMOCRAT can overlook the millions in GOP money from gambling and hooking sexual 'predators' like FISH.
So fuck that noise. Let him prove it.
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