Florida’s Horrible Restrictions on Sex Offense “Temporary Residences”
Dear Members and Advocates,
This past week we’ve been watching a tug-of-war between our different branches of government. Across several states, the judicial branch has been finding sex offender laws have crossed the line and are moving the rope one way, while the legislative branch is introducing harsher sex offender laws and trying to move the rope in the other direction.
The big news was the Supreme Court of the United States’ decision to not hear (and let stand) a Pennsylvania State Court decision that found their registry constituted punishment and could not be applied retroactively on Ex Post Facto constitutional grounds. A similar thing happened last year, when the SCOTUS refused to consider Doe v Snyder (out of the 6th Circuit). The more positive outlook we have after this second decision to allow a lower court ruling to stand is consistency. Snyder wasn’t a fluke and didn’t have a unique, narrow set of facts that the SCOTUS didn’t see fit to review. We now have more confidence that the Court is reluctant to re-consider cases that find the registry requirements unconstitutional.
At the same time, in legislatures across the country, lawmakers are pushing bills to squeeze registrants even tighter. In Florida, we have a series of bills (mostly sponsored by Senator Lauren Book) to make registry requirements harsher and more difficult to comply with. One such bill is HB1301/SB1226 that would reduce from 5 to 3 the number of days you can be present, in the aggregate during one year, without having to register the address. That means; if you visit relatives in other part of the state and stay overnight because of the distance, you get 2 visits a year instead of 4. That means; if you take a long weekend with your family, you need to plan to take a couple extra days off to run to the DMV and wait in line to change your address (and then change it back). That means; if you live in a county where the registration office is only open 3 days a week, you can only travel on certain days of the week.
The worst part is; nothing has happened that would necessitate the tightening of this law. If there was a study that demonstrated that travelling sex offenders committed offenses during their 3rd and 4th day of travel, the introduction of these bills would make more sense. At this point, it’s just a vindictive lawmaker in the Senate and one in the House (Heather Fitzenhagen – who notably received a couple thousand-dollar donation from Ronald L. Book, PA and a thousand dollars from Ron Book individually) who hope to trip up more sex offenders trying to engage in otherwise lawful behavior, so they can restock the jails and prisons.
The problem that we are facing, is that new laws are not imposing harsher punishments for criminal behavior, but they are criminalizing innocent behavior when it comes to sex offenders. In Miami-Dade, the Bovo Amendment that would criminalize homelessness (for sex offenders only) sailed through the committee. In Maine, a bill under consideration would criminalize taking a picture of a minor without the parent’s permission (for sex offenders only). Sure, there will be the occasional creep out there who has some ulterior motive, but that’s why we have stalking and harassment laws. Sure, there will be the occasional homeless drunk, but that’s why we have public drunkenness laws. To criminalize someone for snapping a selfie while some random kid is on the background or for living outdoors because he’s not allowed to return home, is insane!
Fortunately, this year will be the year we initiate our own Ex Post Facto challenge in Florida. If the SCOTUS’ response to the decisions from Pennsylvania and Michigan are indicative of their feeling towards the constitutionality of these laws, we have something to look forward to!
Please join us this Thursday at 8PM for our monthly member meeting, on which we will be discussing the status of the cases pending in Florida, recent decisions from other states and what’s on the 2018 agenda for the FAC legal committee.
Sincerely,
The Florida Action Committee
SOME HEADLINES FROM THIS WEEK
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