Florida’s 2nd DCA offers relief for terminal man confined in civil commitment.
Florida really loves to keep people on it’s sex offender registry and locked up. There are nearly 80 thousand people on Florida’s sex offender registry but fewer than 30 thousand are actually in the community. Of those in the community, we have so many who are elderly or too physically impaired to be a danger to anyone, yet we still make them register.
We have come to learn (thanks to an excellent piece of investigative journalism written by Steven Yoder in The Appeal) that Florida fudges it’s numbers in order to get more federal money. We also know that Florida’s civil commitment center (where people deemed “sexually dangerous” are indefinitely confined) is run by a private, FOR PROFIT, business whose lobbyist is Ron Book, who, in turn, is a significant donor to political campaigns.
Florida politicians essentially see the registry as a blank check. Understanding that explains why it’s run the way it is. But, lets suspend that knowledge for a minute and pretend that the Florida sex offender registry is actually a tool to protect the public, why dilute the list or continue to pay to civilly commit someone who is too old or ill to present a risk to anyone?
Last week, in Drake v. State, Florida’s 2nd District Court of Appeals asked that question. Raymond Drake committed a sexual battery in 1976 and after serving four decades in prison for his crime, he technically completed his sentence, but in 2012 the State, pursuant to the Jimmy Rice Act, civilly committed him. By 2018, Drake was in his late 60’s and was terminally ill with stage 4 COPD. He uses a walker or a wheelchair, struggles to breathe and relies on inhalers and oxygen. Physicians testified that Drake is no longer physically able to commit an act of sexual violence, but the State refused to let him go.
The Court found that in order to continue to detain Drake, the State must demonstrate not only that his mental condition remains unchanged, but also that if released he is likely to engage in acts of sexual violence. While the State only focused on his psychological condition (they argued he remained a sexual sadist because he refused to admit to his crime and he refused treatment), they ignored the second prong – whether he is likely to engage in acts of sexual violence – and that’s something that needed to be determined at trial.
There is no need to keep people who are too elderly or sick, or who are no longer in the community or even who are dead, on the registry or civilly committed. Please ask your legislator to introduce legislation to fix this.
Where are the other 50000? Living out of state?
Yes.
27,735 w/FL as permanent state and in Communities (probation or released)
19,669 are listed under Florida but have absconded, were deported, are deceased, or are being held in civil commitment or incarcerated.
30,245 left Florida or were only here temporarily.
49,914 out of 77,649 (64.28%) of the people listed on the Florida Sex Offender registry are NOT in Florida communities.
And that’s just the basic information that is required from the registry. How about the other stuff? How about the fact that as of like two years ago, the registry had me listed is still owning three vehicles. They got my current auto will be all correct, but they had a minivan and an SUV also listed. The minivan hasn’t been registered in my name for over 20 years. The SUV was transferred not only to the new owner but you another state 10 years ago. Interestingly enough, the registry did not list the four other cars that I have owned since I was put on the registry. Even if you account for the fact that the registry is maintained by one government bureaucracy and that bureaucracy has to rely on at least 68 other bureaucracies if you count the DMV and the counties, how much bad information should they have? 10%? Even with the multiple layers of bureaucracy, no more than 20%? And yet we are looking add a bureaucratic system that has a bad information rate of around 2/3 and that’s just counting the basic information it is supposed to provide. That doesn’t count things like what happen with my cars. The bigger problem is that a lot of this “Misinformation” Is caused not by expected government incompetence, but by a conscious choice, like in the case of leaving people who are no longer in the jurisdiction on the Florida registry. In my opinion, the issue of “defrauding “the United States government should be the last thing you argue but you certainly can after you present all the rest of the evidence. Washington considers Florida to be “substantially compliant“ with the Adam Walsh act. How much more substantially noncompliant do you have to get?
my son went to register another car that he and his wife had purchased and they had closed it was like 2 minutes after 4:00 so he went on the next day and called them to let them know the tag and vin number he spoke to someone on the phone in Lake County Florida and he thought the put in the information into a registry system. well a couple of years down the road they came to the house one day to do a check and noticed his wife’s car was not listed on the papers and they arrested him and charged him with a felony he is still fighting it!
Registrants are strictly liable for a database they can’t even control! I’m grateful that we’re challenging strict liability as Michigan has (successfully).
Hoping your son makes it through this utter nonsense.
There should be a way to take a Independent risk assessment to determine if you stay on the registry after you have completed all obligations for your crime.
If someone is off probation/ parole and out jail/ prison the person shouldn’t be on any type of registry. If someone is truly dangerous and a threat then (Ron Book) they shouldn’t be let out. Our own Justice Department and Smart office says the reoffending rate is low; yet these laws continue. No more polygraphs; measuring erections and other junk science they use to justify this bs!!
It is hard to find a legislator willing to brave the tides of public opinion to author such legislation but there is an answer…if I were to train a registrant or their family member to harness salons and barber shops and campaign for those pro-reform legislators….well that WILL turn the tide on things in Florida and people like Ron Book would have a big problem lobbying effectively!
Not even past this yet, what Year, uh Decade is it now, gonna be banish thourh my 60’s too