Punishment versus Restorative Justice for Sex Offenses
Weekly Update 2017-01-24
Dear Members and Advocates,
This past week we got a new president. Donald Trump promises to be the “law and order” president, which would likely be very unfriendly to our cause. At the same time, President Trump touts himself as an astute businessman and therefore would have to question what return on our country’s investment does mass incarceration and over-punishment bring?
Since the 1980’s, the United States has been ratcheting up the punishments, to the point where today there are over 2.2 million adults incarcerated in the US and an additional 4.75 million on probation or parole. That means that one in 50 people are “in the system”. And what’s that “system”? According to PrisonPolicy.org, to house the incarcerated there are 1,719 state prisons, 102 federal prisons, 942 juvenile correctional facilities, 3,283 local jails, each employing hundreds of people and that doesn’t even consider the probation offices or ancillary programs, such as electronic monitoring and treatment, which are industries themselves.
The United States incarcerates five times more people than most other nations. It’s one of the things that is clearly “not great” about our country, but will the president who promised to “Make America Great Again” put this issue on his checklist? Well he needs to, and it’s up to us and other reform advocacy groups to make sure this issue is brought to his administration’s agenda.
FAC believes in punishment. We believe that if you do something wrong, you should be punished for it. However, FAC also believes in the concept of restorative justice; that our prison/probation system should be rehabilitative and release people whose criminal thinking errors have been corrected, who have been given the tools and training to avoid re-offending and who have the support and guidance to have a shot at a better life – not putting people back on the streets who are worse off than when they came in and have no shot at living crime free.
FAC also believes that not all offenders are homogenous. That not all “sex offenders” are the same and they, therefore, should not all be treated the same and subject to the same restrictions. The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU identified four criteria which should be considered when determining how much “punishment” one requires. The first is seriousness; obviously, murder is graver than writing a bad check. The second is victim impact; if a person is harmed in commission of a crime, the punishment to the offender should be harsher. The third is intent; if someone deliberately sought to break the law they deserve more punishment. The fourth is recidivism; those more likely to re-offend need more intervention.
The current state of our sex offender laws ignores all these criteria. It lumps all “sex offenders” into the same basket regardless of offense. It treats people who looked at an illegal image online the same as the person who violated the victim in the image. It punishes those who had no intent to offend and would not have but for a police sting, the same as an actual human trafficker. And it punishes those individuals far less likely to offend than any other class of crime, harsher than those criminals with much higher rates of recidivism. Worst of all, the restrictions imposed on sex offenders make it practically impossible to re-enter society and live productive lives.
To get our message across we advocate. We do this by contacting our legislators and sharing the facts and statistics and, as their constituents, making sure they are aware of how we feel about this position. To cover more ground, the more members we have advocating for us, the better. It does not take money (beyond a phone call or a postage stamp), it does not take much time (beyond what it takes to make a call or write a letter) and it’s something you can do from the comfort of your home, regardless of your skill level.
This evening, the National Association for Rational Sexual Offense Laws (NARSOL) will be holding their Monthly Conference Call from 8PM to 9:30. This month’s topic is “Advancing Advocacy: From Registrant to Advocate” and it will feature three registrants who overcame fear and other hurdles to become advocates. They will give suggestions to others about how they can be involved, and will talk about lessons learned. They will provide insight to other advocates about how they might reach out to registrants and encourage them to become advocates themselves. That number is (641) 715-3660 with access code 957605. We strongly recommend you listen in and then contact us to coordinate an effort to get our message across to the new administration.
Sincerely,
The Florida Action Committee
SOME HEADLINES FROM THIS WEEK
Florida Appellate Court Clarifies Sexual Predators Designation for Repeat Offenders<https://floridaactioncommittee.org/florida-appellate-court-clarifies-sexual-predators-designation-repeat-offender
The 5th District Court of Appeals of Florida, last week, entered an order clarifying when one can be enhanced to Sexual Predator status for a “second sexual offense”. The Defendant in the case challenged his designation as a Predator. He was arrested twice for the…
Sex Offender Laws Need to Get With the Times<https://floridaactioncommittee.org/sex-offender-laws-need-to-get-with-the-times/>
I attended a marketing and advertising conference in 2009. It was very soon after the death of Michael Jackson and the keynote speaker began the session by asking, “how many of you woke up this morning, walked outside to get your newspaper and learned, for the first…
The Anatomy of a Good Letter to Congress<https://floridaactioncommittee.org/the-anatomy-of-a-good-letter-to-congress/>
People frequently ask me: How should my letter to Congress read? Should it be long or short, use legal terms, or speak from the heart? To answer these questions, I went to an expert, Anna Vetter, Deputy Chief of Staff and Communications Director for Congressman David…
Letter to Palm Beach Post RE: A World with no Floor, published Jan. 8, 2017<https://floridaactioncommittee.org/letter-to-palm-beach-post-re-a-world-with-no-floor-published-jan-8-2017/>
The following was sent by FAC in response to an article published by the Palm Beach Post. We are looking for volunteers to assist our media committee in writing such responses. ___________________ To: Pat Beall, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer pbeall@pbpost.com …