FDLE Confirms that NO Sex Offenses occurred on School or Daycare grounds in 2016

Weekly Update 2017-05-23

Dear Members and Advocates,

One of the most horrific, blatantly unconstitutional moves in the history of sex offender laws was stayed in Missouri yesterday! This was great news and significantly motivating in our fight.

Earlier this year, the State of Missouri passed a law that placed lifetime GPS on “sex offenders.” It didn’t matter if you were convicted before the law took effect, it didn’t matter if you were already off probation. Heck, it didn’t matter if you were no longer in Missouri – they were going to slap a GPS on you anyhow! The situation was so ridiculous that we literally put up a post<https://floridaactioncommittee.org/heck-going-missouri/> last week titled, “What the heck is going on in Missouri?”

Thankfully, the registrants fought back and through attorney Matt Fry obtained a temporary injunction, blocking the enforcement of the new law. This morning, we were excited to read a headline in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that read, “Missouri to remove hundreds of GPS monitoring devices recently put on sex offenders.” As the case proceeds through the courts, it will be an interesting one to watch and we will certainly be following it carefully and sharing the updates.

The Missouri GPS law is a glaring example of the hundreds of “sex offender laws” that are passed to address a danger that does not exist, by politicians who are trying to earn votes from a misinformed public or trying to earn money through lucrative deals with equipment and monitoring companies.  To those politicians, we suggest you study the research and learn what the studies say. Your policies and efforts are so misplaced! Last night’s tragedy in Manchester, UK, is a horrific reminder that there is actual danger in this world and our limited resources should be applied to prevention and not punishment.

On that same note, the FDLE replied to our public information request for a “list of registered sexual offenders or sexual predators that have been arrested, charged with or convicted of a sexual offense which occurred on a school or day care property in 2016.”  Their response was, “Searches were conducted through FDLE’s files for records based on the information you provided. After conducting searches, we were unable to find records related to your request.”  In other words; NONE!  The FDLE could not point to a single case last year where someone on the registry committed a sexual offense on a school or day care grounds. One only needs to scan headlines to see how many teachers, coaches or school administrators were caught having sex with school children last year to see how misplaced the resources are. To our members of law enforcement in Marion County wasting thousands of dollars on signs<https://floridaactioncommittee.org/signs-will-warn-sex-offenders-stay-off-school-grounds/> and notifications… good luck with that!

Tonight, we will be at the encampment by the tracks, along with representatives from the ACLU to meet with Plaintiffs and work on the Miami-Dade SORR challenge. We have some incredible challenges in our own state, but are hugely encouraged by the success of challenges across the US. To help support our cause, please visit: https://floridaactioncommittee.org/donations/ We are in this together!

Sincerely,

The Florida Action Committee

SOME HEADLINES FROM THIS WEEK

Lawsuit over Idaho’s sex-offender registry laws expands to 134 plaintiffs<https://floridaactioncommittee.org/lawsuit-idahos-sex-offender-registry-laws-expands-134-plaintiffs/>

A lawsuit filed last year by 104 sex offenders challenging Idaho’s laws that require registration and community notification of sex offenders has been expanded to 134 sex offenders. They say the laws violate an array of constitutional rights, from the prohibition on…

Minnesota registrants take fight over civil commitment to the Supreme Court<https://floridaactioncommittee.org/minnesota-registrants-take-fight-civil-commitment-supreme-court/>

On Friday, a group of Minnesota sex offenders who are civilly committed (confined indefinitely in prison-like treatment centers after they have already completed their criminal sentences) filed a petition to have their case heard by the Supreme Court of the United…

Weiner will bear weight of sex offender laws he helped pass<https://floridaactioncommittee.org/weiner-will-bear-weight-sex-offender-laws-helped-pass/>

Thank you to Josh Gravens for this story and thank you to the NY Daily News for publishing it: Mr. Weiner, You are an idiot. You have thrown away a lovely family, a wife so devoted that she stood by you as you became the laughingstock of the country. Your last name…

14-year-old facing life as sex offender for consensual sex with his 12-year-old girlfriend<https://floridaactioncommittee.org/14-year-old-facing-life-sex-offender-consensual-sex-12-year-old-girlfriend/>

This story out of Texas, reports that a 14-year-old junior high student is facing the possibility of life as a registered sex offender after being arrested for having sex with his 12-year-old girlfriend. He’s a seventh grader, she’s a sixth grader. They are…