Is Florida ready for a sex offense management board?
A few states have sex offense management boards (SOMBs) that have encouraged research-based policies, but some state boards are far from perfect. Should FAC be pushing Florida to form such a board? The concept is surely good, but the results are not always the best.
Ideally, such a board should include stakeholders from all sides of the criminal justice system: a victims’ advocate, someone with a past sex offense who has successfully reintegrated back into society, a prosecutor, a licensed mental health professional with experience in treatment of adult sex offenders, etc. But that does not always happen.
Florida could decide to develop such a board under the jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections, at the direction of the legislature, or appointed by the governor.
The concept of having a management board that bases its recommendations on research sounds good on paper, but it all depends on the make-up of the board. If the appointees are purposely chosen because they are “yes” men or women to the leadership of this state, we would be better off without such a board. If they are independent from politics and are led by research-based policies, they could be an ally for us.
This board also does not have any real authority but makes recommendations to the state.
Utah recently appointed such a board worth looking at to consider if we should push for one in Florida.
Any board appointed by our current Governor would be a mistake.
The way I see it, any actual oversight would be welcome. Right now all we see as far as changes with the Florida registry are more restrictions added yearly!
Sure there is no guarantee that positive changes would be made however, it seems that having a board would at least provide some transparency which can only be positive.
As it stands we are stuck in a tar pit with no way out except to sink and die. It would be great to have a reasonable way off of the registry (ideally no registry but lets be realistic) so that people can move on after paying their “debt to society” without this lifetime probation that we currently have.
There is a SOMB in Colorado and it is not good!
It is made up of people who have an interest in “the industry” such as polygraphers, people who have been victimized or others who have a political agenda. It recently came up for sunset review and despite all of the conflicts of interest, it was renewed. Maybe a different make up would work but….Florida….seems like a lot of downright meanness down there and not much attention is paid to the facts.
If I recall correctly, sometime in the last year or two, FAC announced it was going after ending the registry. No more fighting all the endless little battles.
So why even discuss adding more bureaucracy?🤷🏻♀️
I am NOT a “sex offender”
AND
I don’t need to be “managed”!
You are right. A management board for former sex offenders (FSO) would be counter productive. The mere presence of such a board implies that FSO’s are somehow more of a threat to society than others with a criminal offense. It feeds the myth of dangerousness just as the mere presence of the registry does. Is there no need for a car jacker management board? Having a management board for FSOs would be a mistake for a number of reasons, many of which have been articulated in other posts here.
That’s exactly right! Government labels have been used for the sole purpose of divide and rule for far too long. The job of POLiticians is to POLarize the populations in endless division. It’s evil and lacks even a shred of wisdom.
JJJJ
I was afraid to do so but my last job I should have said that to my manager. I basically did when I had a massive heart attack and he refused to call 9-11 and I have to dial it myself. He ended up getting fired over that (Along with all the other dirt I had on him).
I am not a snitch but in that instance, it was justified. Well all of them would have been but It was hard to find jobs with a sex offense so I endured it. Shame of it was, when raises came out, everyone else got $1 an hour raise while I got .15 cents. That also was brought up in my complaint. And I ran circles around all the other employees and in fact, when the manager was gone, I was the supervisor but got no extra pay. And the 2 Temp employees made twice what I made because they didn’t get health insurance was the bosses reasoning.
I currently earn about 1/3 of what other professionals with my title and credentials do, so I know what you mean…
When you are a registrant you take what you can get.
I would advise against it. I can see Ron Book buying his way into membership of such a board, or Lauren whining her way into it. Either way, I can’t imagine anything good coming out of a board like that.
Dustin
Excellent point. And with his wealth and influence we could all be sent to the bottom of the ocean to study algae without scuba tanks.
I cannot see a universe in which this governor and his cabal of legislators would pick any board or committee that would be fair and non-political. The board recommends one thing that Herr DeSantis doesn’t like and he’ll come down on them like a truck load of bricks. Something like this would work in a less backward less hateful state
Rick
I just looked up Florida’s Governor term limits.
“A Florida governor can serve two consecutive four-year terms before having to step down for the next election.
There is no lifetime limit on the number of times a candidate may be elected.”
So in Theory he could run for ever as long as he kept getting re-elected.
Wanna hear a funny and yet terrifying story?
Our son, forced onto the registry several years ago, works in the A/V industry. He worked a show earlier this year where DeSantis spoke to a bunch of “christians”.
When he gleefully announced that Florida now has the death penalty for child rapists, the “christians” applauded.
Have you heard the stories of christians being fed to lions in the “dark ages”? How the crowds cheered as they watched the horror? The thing about the current version of the religion is [moderated: digression on religious history]
So, our son, a forced registrant, worked a show in the same room as DeSantis and all those hypocrites, and had to listen to their hate. I would assume “child” rapists includes anyone a day under the magic number 18.
So watch out high schoolers, 18 year olds that have consensual sex with their 17 year old girlfriend could be killed if the parents find out and the girl lies to protect herself. Not to mention false accusations. [moderator’s note: The new law allows the state to seek the death penalty in sexual battery cases involving children younger than 12]. This is the same horrific, corrupted, hateful psychosis that tortured and killed the original true christians who believed in and practiced UNconditional love, NON-judgement and FORGIVENESS.
Those practices are the only way we ever get out of the hell the [moderated] have created for us. This religion is the biggest and primary hurdle between now and the other side of a world wide awakening.
Please do not place all Christians in that category. I was not one of those who “Found” religion while in prison but was taught and brought to church at a young age. And no, I was not indoctrinated as anyone who as an adult, can decide to believe or throw out what you learned and junk science.
My parents are pastors and there are many things I do not agree with them about but, everyone at one point in their life is a hypocrite about one subject or another.
When I worked in law enforcement, there were some cops that scared me even though I was their fellow officer. You can take any group and find the good, the bad and the neutral in all of them. I have friends who [moderated] have over 100 gods. I show them love and Christian values through my actions without pushing my beliefs on them.
My comment was censored. Otherwise, you’d have had a better understanding of what I said.
Whoever is censoring my comments is doing a great disservice and harm to the awakening and is helping proliferate the ignorance that is causing so much destruction to souls. I’ve been thinking about unsubscribing from FAC emails and withdrawing from the entire battle primarily due to censorship. Free speech is free speech. It’s all or nothing. Someone using their opinion to decide what others shouldn’t see is wrong, regardless of policies (policing, which no one likes), and is why the world is in such a mess. It’s the second oldest tool used by the self-imposed rulers after religion.
[moderater’s note: deleted comments which express religious viewpoints which may not reflect the beliefs of other members].
Continued…..
I have spent countless hours emailing those [officials] in Tallahassee on behalf of not just my son but for everyone persecuted by the real satan(s). I’m bone weary from their hate and the struggle to get through their hate and ignorance. Some of it is about elections and special interests, but it’s mostly steeped in ignorance and hate. We have to deal with excessive hate from a couple of neighbors who live closest to us. One of them harasses us daily and after ten years, we finally found out that it’s because our son lives with us. It’s being used to silence me in our HOA. If these neighbors knew the truth that sets you free, we probably would be subjected to their abuse.
I pray the moderators will allow my comment in full, since the subject of religion has been initiated and responded to and that comment was published. Otherwise, I’m done with all my efforts and wasting time writing what people need to know just for someone else to decide they don’t want people to know, too. I don’t use profanity and I don’t share anything that isn’t factual based on what’s available to learn. I’ve focused tremendous amounts of energy on the registry already being obliterated. That’s what everyone wants and it is doable if a large enough fraction of the population BELIEVES it. This was a huge part of original christianity and the censerors left evidence in their KJ Bible VERSION. Mark 11:24 is a tiny bit of truth left about the secret to creating your reality.
Sorry about that. I have had untold post in the past moderated but the site does not belong to me. I am actually glad they are just moderating now because last year, the entire post wasn’t even being posted. Surprised some things I say make it through and others don’t.
But this is my community and do not have many other allies to vent with. I do not like talking about it with my elderly parents because I already put them through enough for the past 60 years.
I just want to point out that in Florida, it’s not a criminal offense for an 18-year-old to engage in consensual sexual activity with a 17-year-old. Per F.S. 794.05(1), it’s only a crime for a person 24 years of age or older to engage in sexual activity with a person who is 16 or 17 years of age. I’m acutely aware of this because I was convicted of this offense, and if I had been a little over one year younger, or the victim had been a year older, it wouldn’t have constituted a crime (it would still have constituted bad judgment).
However, per F.S. 800.04, et seq., it’s a crime for anyone to engage in any kind of sexual activity or touching with a person under 16 years of age, including another person under 16. So, your analogy for a 17-year-old with a 15-year-old girlfriend would still hold.
RM
About 40 years ago, I remember someone who thought his girlfriend was 18 and so did she. But her birth certificate said otherwise. The guy was arrested but the lawyer argued that the person is legally 18 at 12:01 am regardless of what time they were born that day and the judge agreed and threw out the case.
My opinion is, they got lucky with that judge, otherwise, he might have been sent to prison. The guy was more than 10 years older but once you are 18 it doesn’t matter if you are 100 as long as it was consensual.
**** Every state has their own rules and laws on age of consent. (I personally think it should be standardized to end confusion)
Any board run only by the FLA DOC would NOT be in our best interest. From someone who was in prison, I saw horrors at the hands of guards against inmates that I never want to witness. And if you spoke up or gave a statement, you would be their next victim. And what is ironic, I was not even in a dangerous prison. I thought I was going to have to fear other inmates, but it was the guards we all feared.
Not that your statement needs any verification, but I can attest to your statements.
BWJ
I will take all the back up I can get LOL
My opinion is usually worth about the cost of a cup of coffee.
I hate to compare this but did you see the news about what happened with the Pulse nightclub board. Most of the money is gone “Millions” of dollars spent on research to build a memorial and museum. Now the city took over, most of the board dissolved, nothing completed and most of the money gone.
In “my opinion”, people got rich off the tragedy and although we cannot compare ourselves to the nightclub shooting in Orlando, we can say that if we have a sex offender board, people somehow, some way are going to profit off of us.
No. No management board. Ever.
It may sound like a good thing at first glance, but it’s just an other agency that will kick the can down the road. You will also have more people with their personal opinions. They may have some rules they would go by, so they can make decisions. However personal prejudice will always take place when they make their decisions.
I personally don’t think they are a good thing. Better for SCOTUS to agree that retroactive SORNA is an Ex Post Facto violation and end our problems.
Not to mention it would perpetually justify the existence of the registry by implying that it needs so-called “management.”
Remember a couple years ago when the Colorado SOMB was discussing changing just the internal language to eliminate the term “sex offender” from treatment materials?
Through that process, I had discovered that A THIRD of the SOMB were professional victim advocates and PROSECUTORS, and they banded together and derailed it.
I can only imagine the crackpots that would be put on a FloriDUH SOMB. The [Books] would definitely be on it, if not just Lauren, but her [moderated] daddy. Maybe one of the Brevard County haters like John Tobia. They’d probably put some kooky cop on it like [Sheriff] Grady. Probably the head of GEO Group, too. The FL-SOMB would be a veritable who’s who of FloriDUH’s most insane criminal justice figureheads in the state.
It is probably a good think the land of ‘Duh has no such group.
Is Florida ready for a management board. I would say all states are ready for some management and true understanding and a bit of wisdom also. I hope all know who’s in control. Government maybe doing right with all this registry issue but their is more to it than meets the eye.
For every measure of injustice their has to be a balance of Justice and truth. Sure man wants to control but are they using a type of subterfuge in a lot of ways not to mention deception & bearing false witness.
Does government always manage right in many ways and means.