Crestview passes sex offender ordinance based on incorrect information
At the Crestview Council meeting on September 25, 2023, one of the members quoted from a 2019 government study, saying that 67% of “these people” will be arrested again within 9 years, with the implication being for another sex offense.
The study that was cited was the 2019 Bureau of Justice Statistics report “Recidivism of Sex Offenders Released from State Prison: A 9-year Follow-up (2005-14).” Specifically, the report states on page 4: “The percentage of released prisoners arrested within 9 years for ANY type of crime after serving time for rape or sexual assault was 67%.”
The 67% quoted was for arrests – NOT convictions. These arrests also included technical violations and non-compliant arrests.
Very few of these arrests were for an alleged sex offense as the study shows that 7.7% did commit another sex offense during this 9-year period after release from prison. This 7.7% rate is tucked away in the second bullet point on the first page of the study under “Highlights.” (The first sentence of the report does use the rounded-up 8%.)
What this government study did show is that 92.3% of people released in 2005 for rape or sexual assault did NOT sexually re-offend. That is what the council members and people of Crestview, Florida, did NOT hear.
Additionally, this study, as some other government studies do, only use people whose most serious crime was rape or sexual assault. Had this study included released inmates whose most serious offense was ANY type of sex offense, (CP, being 18 years old and having consensual relations with a 17-year-old which is not illegal in many states, and all other sex offenses), the sexual re-offense rate would have been lower than 7.7%.
Listening to the council member who quoted from this government study, one would think that two-thirds of people with a past sex offense will commit another sex offense within 9 years. He did not try to define the word recidivism which is unfortunate as it is not always used in the same way.
Unfortunately, another sex offense ordinance was passed based on a myth.
All F.A.C members, commenters. Raise your hand if you have been re-arrested (For an actual new sex offense, not a fake violation).
Crickets………………………………..
These people and others like them enjoy making up false facts which harm everyone involved. They release murderers sometimes after serving just a few years and no one says “Well they have a 75% chance of killing again”.
I might have a better chance of getting hit by a car than re-offending. It has been 33 years now since my offense. I guess I am just waiting for the right moment to re-offend (Sarcasm).
All of this is about funding. Cities, states and even the feds get budgets each year for registry compliance. If they let us all off with a chance to prove ourselves, those poor souls would lose their jobs and have to go on food stamps. Poor things.
Hey Cherokee let’s not forget the idiots that seem to think people accused of a sex crime don’t get any time in prison. I get so sick of hearing “oh they rape a kid and get slapped on the wrist “. That’s what leads to vigilantes
I believe the long-term aim on the legislature is to impose these laws to eventually have a register free city of us. In their narrow mind they believe this will eliminate sex offences. However, we know that this is the further thing from the truth. As time and time again, we see that its new people who commit these crimes never being on the registry to begin with.
The aim of the legislature is to drive us further and further away from valuable resources that a community provides. Once, driven away from these resources registered citizens are more likely to go back to prison not by committing another offense but by committing one of the hundreds they seem to impose on us under the guise of public safety all of this is by design. There is no safety factor involved when they say with malice that this new ordinance is to stop future residents from moving here.
This is reminding me of the “good ole’ south Jim Crow laws but instead of aimed at African-Americans its aimed at us. We are seeing modern-day segregating 2.0 for this century. Just like with their stupid ideology back then these laws serve no true purpose but to force us out of these community then the state. They have taken our right to vote while giving it back to all felons but murders, they have taken away more and more freedoms every year time and time again. You see where they passed 1,000-foot proximity ordinances in St. Johns country up from 300 feet. This is almost transitioning to the untouchables in India social class here in the south. Banishment is illegal plain and simple.
Not at all to compare our situation to the Holocaust, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they rounded us all up on trains and sent us to the desert and made to live in colonies away from society.
We already are considered outcasts. We are banned from doing, saying and enjoying so many things, I think people on probation don’t even have to comply with. I almost got arrested once when I had a flat tire in front of a school.
The resource officer came out and asked if I was ok, then for some reason ran my tag. He about flipped out because I had pulled into the school lot. I said should I have left my vehicle in the middle of a two lane road with nowhere to pull over? He wanted me to drive on the rim down the road but I refused and told him I did not have $200 for a new rim.
Luckily just then the tow truck guy showed up and replaced the tire for me and I was able to go on my way. (I know how to change a tire but have back problems and no way I could have done it without severe pain)
Honestly I feel like we registrants are like Native Americans. People assume that we’re savages and will reoffend. They create special living areas away from civilization and expect us to follow draconian laws without us so much as having a voice. You get the idea.
There are at least several life circumstances for PFR’s that can be directly compared to pre-Holocaust days. And, I’ll bet most folks back in the early to mid-30’s didn’t ultimately expect a Holocaust. History does, in fact, repeat itself often.
EVD:
Florida has been chasing registrants out of their state for years. People on the registry have been resettling in other states so they have less hassles.
9/28 senator Lauren Book issued this warning in advance of the announcement of increases in penal sentences for sexual related crimes…’it is not if they will reoffend..but when.’
Can you give us the source or link for her comment?
Education, it’s true that this quote was reported by news outlets. To put it in context, Sen Book was referring to a specific type of sexual crime in news reports on the new law making the death penalty available as a possible punishment for that type of crime.
Somehow they will twist this around and end up making these laws retroactive. Back in the 90s they were talking about revoking gain time for those with a sex offense. Soon after I was released, they changed the law to having to do 85% of your prison sentence.
I did like 45% of mine. Would have been less but got into a fight and got sent to lock up for 30 days.
“It’s not a matter of if they re-offend,” Book said. “It’s a matter of when they re-offend, and the reality is, we’re not doing anything in the penal system to handle … these types of offenders.”
https://www.wptv.com/news/state/here-are-the-new-laws-beginning-oct-1-in-florida