Housing changes for sexual offenders will make Jacksonville safer
Finally a story on Sex Offender Residency Restrictions that got it right!
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The city has finally taken a giant step toward protecting all its residents by considering a ordinance that will amend the strict sexual offender housing requirements that have put the community at risk.
The ordinance in question decreases the distance sexual predators must reside from places, such as schools, day care centers and parks or playgrounds, from 2,500 feet to 1,500 feet.
Sound contradictory? How does reducing the distance an ex-felon must live from places children frequent make the public safer?
It’s simple. It makes the public safer by giving these ex-offenders more places to live.
And it is stable, permanent housing — not stringent distance requirements — that make it less likely that a sexual offender will re-offend.
As it is now, there are fewer than a handful of spots where sexual predators can make their homes in Duval County and many of those were recently shut down.
NOWHERE TO LIVE
So where do these sexual predators end up living?
In the woods.
On street corners.
Under bridges.
There are too many occasions when they are simply dropped off somewhere in Jacksonville to make their beds where they can.
A year ago, these pages recounted the story of one sexual predator just released from prison who was dropped off on the side of a street here because no place could be found for him to live that complied with the city’s strict housing requirements.
While dropping a sexual predator off like a ”stray dog” is frightening, it is not unusual. In fact, one former probation officer characterized such roadside drops as “fairly frequent.”
That’s just how difficult it is to find housing that complies with the current strict laws.
On a recent visit to a wooded corner of Edgewood Avenue, two sexual predators were found living beneath bushes amid broken bottles and trash. They had been living there for a month because they’d been unable to find housing that complied with Jacksonville’s strict laws regarding distance.
“There’s no place we can go,” explained Donald Carr, 45. “We don’t have anything. We haven’t even had any food today.”
Their situation — similar to that faced by many sexual predators unable to find housing — is made more difficult because homelessness has made it harder for them to get the medication and services they need.
Recently the housing difficulties for sexual offenders here rose to a catastrophic level.
Three of the handful of houses that met residency restrictions shut their doors. The ramshackle houses, divided into many small apartments, didn’t meet fire codes, according to Tom Francis, the public information officer for Jacksonville Fire and Rescue.
So where have all those ex-offenders gone?
RESEARCH NOT SUPPORTIVE
Although gut reaction might dictate strict distance restrictions, hard science shows these laws just don’t work to protect the public.
Indeed multiple studies, including research by the U.S. Department of Justice, show repeatedly that housing restrictions do not reduce the likelihood that sex offenders will re-offend.
Instead, they make finding permanent housing — the No. 1 predictor of whether a former inmate re-offends — exceedingly difficult.
A lack of available housing also makes it difficult for individuals to find employment — yet another factor that reduces recidivism.
It also may result in a loss of supportive social systems as the only housing that meets restrictions often in neighborhoods not near family or friends. Yet this is precisely the type of support ex-offenders need.
Obviously, the new ordinance is gravely needed.
It should not, however, be construed as “soft” on sexual predators.
It should instead be understood as a change in the requirements that will give sexual predators more stable places to live. That housing, in turn, will lead to fewer repeat sexual offenses while increasing the chances the ex-felons will be better tracked by law enforcement, social services agencies and the public.
Thanks to City Councilman Bill Gulliford for bringing this topic to the table. It’s a discussion we can no longer avoid.
The public must be kept safe.
Small victory we will take because we are so desperate to have anything go our way but it should have been 150 feet or even 0 because as we all know the RSO has a very small chance of re-offending
Agreed. At the very least, it should have been dropped to 1,000 feet, not 1,500, to comply with state law. That extra 500 feet makes a big difference inside the 295 beltway.
It should have been dropped to ZERO, considering there’s no evidence that SORRs do anything.
The reality is; this will alleviate the housing problem a little, but not nearly enough.
Let’s apply simple geometry to illustrating the difference between what 1500 and 1000 does… The area of a circle is pi (3.14) x the radius, squared.
The difference between 1500 feet (7,068,583.47 square feet) and 1000 feet (3,141,592.65 square feet) opens up 3,926,990.82 square feet of available area. Since the outer 500 feet of a radius encompasses more area than the inner 500, at first blush this does seem like a very significant reduction.
The problem with populous cities (Jacksonville has the highest population of any city in FL – 880,619 (2016), even more than Miami) is the number of facilities that form the center of these buffer zone circles. At the present 1500 feet, they need to, essentially be 3000 feet away from EACH OTHER (half a mile) in order to open up any availability between them, where in most cases the circles just overlap each other.
Jacksonville also has the one of the largest school districts (20th in the Country), which means it’ll have plenty of overlapping circles.
UPDATE NOV 6: Cowards! Jax Council panel defers bill changing sexual predator distance requirements:
http://floridapolitics.com/archives/245357-jax-sexual-predators-may-live-closer-to-day-care-centers-soon
Impressive would of been getting residency restrictions eliminated all together. I’m not at all impressed with this Jacksonville move. If they really did do their homework or research, and the research clearly shows that these restrictions are useless 100%, they would of eliminated those restrictions – period!.
The bottom line is this,
You can’t ban a singular group from cities and counties. It is punitive and unconstitutional. “Especially” after you have long finished your sentence. I don’t think people really understand what Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness means. To violate such a phrase or term is to violate the very thing that makes you American.
I know this is off point, but here is the thing they got wrong: “How does reducing the distance an ex-felon must live from places children frequent make the public safer?”
The thing is, not everyone on the list was convicted, hence, not all of them are ‘ a felon’. But whatever makes the public feel safer i guess.
Well said! I agree 100%
They have not been eliminated because they are politician’s and want to cover their butts with their uninformed voters
Just as with most other statutues, it should be offense specific…if the original offense involved a man or woman assaulting a student near or on school property or a park or library, then the individual should be banned and required to live a certain distance from such places during his or her supervision. The one size fits all approach is draconian in nature and has gone way past the point of insanity. This is what happens when you throw all the apples in one barrel.
To be clear, the Florida legislature could have already resolved this ongoing problem by revising the state statute to supercede all municipalities, thus making the 1000′ minium uniform throughout Florida, applicable only to those whose offense or conviction occurred after the date the 1000′ statute came into effect. Does anyone know the exact date, by the way?
Florida Statute says it “…applies to any person convicted of a violation of s. 794.011, s. 800.04, s. 827.071, s. 847.0135(5), or s. 847.0145 for offenses that occur on or after October 1, 2004”
my conviction date was april, 2004( with-held adj ) so these dont apply to me ?? it gets sooooo confusing !
No, Jacksonville (Duval) has their own ordinance SEPARATE from the State ordinance.