Release of the Sex Offender Registration and Monitoring Triennial Review—2024
According to the state of Florida, OPPAGA is a research arm of the Florida Legislature which supports the legislature by providing data, evaluative research, and objective analyses that assist legislative budget and policy deliberations.
In preparations for their 2024 Triennial Review, OPPAGA reached out to Florida Action Committee for input. Two of FAC’s board members participated in a Zoom call on September 24, 2024, with OPPAGA analysts.
The information that was sent by FAC to the OPPAGA representatives before the Zoom interview can be read here. Research was also sent by FAC board members on the ineffectiveness of the registry.
The 2024 OPPAGA Triennial Report has now been published. As you read the report, keep in mind that OPPAGA is supposed to be the research arm for the Florida Legislature: providing evaluative research and objective analyses that assist the legislature in policy deliberations.
The Florida Legislature doesn’t need research to determine what laws best serve the public. They rely on fear, money and political capital.
Some highlights that I may point out to my state senator and state representative:
Nowhere do they show that these measures contribute to public safety, prevent re-offending, or prevent sex crimes generally. In fact, they do not appear to make such claims at all!
Nowhere do they estimate the cost to taxpayers for our law enforcement resources to spend their time and resources administering these measures.
The analysis of residence restrictions is a good summary that highlights the constraints that home rule places on the safety of our State.
The report identifies the most common way in which a rehabilitated former offender becomes eligible for registry removal, and its kind of surprising!
. . .
What’s helpful about studies such as this is they give lawmakers an excuse to do things that would otherwise be misunderstood or unpopular. Kudos to OPPAGA for having the diligence to reach out to FAC. And kudos to FAC for helping OPPAGA with their research!
What other group of people in the U.S who are off all sanctions have law enforcement coming to their house, in some instances, more times than when I was on probation. Of course, then I had the probation officer coming, but she was very discreet and never embarrassed me. When deputies come to my door, they speak so loud concerning the compliance rules, that the neighbors on the next block can hear it.
Even if they gradually give us more freedoms, that would be the first on my personal list. As long as we are registering, why tie up law enforcement to check on people who are for the most part in compliance anyway.
Two points that I am frustrated with:
(1) Since the 2021 report, nothing has changed in Florida. If anything, the issues that PFR’s must deal with have worsened.
(2) It seem the legislature takes no guidance from the report, which is presumably done at significant time and expense.
It is ironic that in a “tool” which is supposed to identify potentially dangerous people in the community, you will find more people NOT in the community than actually living here. Never mind the incarcerated ones, but now there are more PFR’s living outside of Florida than within. Plus, if the tool is supposed to point out where the registrants are living, is it helpful that laws cause up to 30% to be homeless in some Florida counties so that the public does NOT know where they are living?
The recently released OPPAGA report states that only 30,907 people forced to register out of the over 86,000 people on the registry actually live in Florida, meaning most do NOT reside in Florida. This registry is only creating confusion for the public.
Additionally, Broward’s and Miami-Dade’s percentage of homeless registrants is only growing. “Most sheriffs’ offices…reported that locating and contacting transient ‘offenders’ was challenging and… have remained constant over time. Several sheriffs’ offices stated that contacting homeless offenders was difficult because the offenders moved location frequently.” The OPPAGA report points out how the local ordinances exacerbate this problem.
With the new homeless bill that went to effect on January 1, 2025, according to FOX 35 Orlando, homeless people are having to move from place to place as police keep forcing them out of where they are staying. No one is safer because of any of this.
https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/central-floridas-homeless-population-fearful-expanded-law-banning-public-sleeping
The Florida Legislature is supposed to consider the data, research, and analyses brought forth by OPPAGA, but will they?
@Education
In my area the homeless have no choice but to move. Either law enforcement, the city / or county once they get complaints, the officials come out, run them off and throw all their personal items in a large roll off dumpster.
Now I do for sure feel bad for them, but also I had one camp just 20 feet from my house and I had to be one of those bad guys and report because they were setting cooking fires that burned down the entire woods and we had to evacuate. Luckily no one’s home burned down. Also the smell of poo and urine would come in through the vents of our house.
We need more shelters but the officials always state, where will the money come from.
And on a final note, ANY of us could become one of those homeless for one reason or another, especially with our situations. I was lucky to have my parents take me in. Not everyone gets that welcome home or maybe doesn’t even have any relatives nearby or that want to risk taking us in.
I’ve been on the registry since the day it went live. I was a kid then. I’m now in my 50’s. Iv seen this disaster piece growing into what it is today. It’s a state sponsored, public doxing, name him and shame him punishment for any offense no matter the severity.. You can created charts and reports till Jesus returns. None of it will make a difference as long as the general public does not care. And new flash folks. They don’t care at all. UNTIL little Jimmy gets popped with something that lands him on the registry. That’s when people wake up and realize. ITS NOTHING BUT PUNISHMENT. and it does not keep anyone safe and costs millions and millions of dollars to operate.
@ over it
I was in my 20s when my crime took place, and now I am 60. How long does one have to carry the burdens of their past? Well in Florida, it seems even death does not take you off the registry. (Unless relatives pay to have the person removed).
My first post was censored off because it was gibberish. I’m glad it was.
The system is so broken. It’s weighed down throwing everyone in the same boat.
No Due process and retroactive extension. People getting jail for petty paper crimes. Weaponizing the police system. No escape from poverty.
What I really feel about this situation is once justice is served and completed, once you are removed from the registry anywhere in the United States, you are allowed to go back to a normal life. 10 years on the list was enough admonishment, and punishment for myself personally. There hasn’t been a day go by that I don’t wish I could go back in time and talk sense into that younger person.
That my friends is what happens when restorative justice is applied, accepted, and controlled by the courts, and even praise worthy.
Now 29 years later a new sentence is being applied. A life on a bloated list. So bloated, and stale , and it stinks. Putting a narrative of lopsided numbers on paper is the easiest way to convince people of anything.
The truth has been swept under the rug and driven away.
Peace to everyone in their personal quest for justice and freedom.
The whole premise for the registry is an intellectually dishonest argument. Why should law enforcement even”pride themselves” in attempting to keep it up to date and “accurate?”
I’ll tell you something that victim culture, society and LEOs don’t want to hear, but it’s the cold hard truth:
YOUR FEELINGS ON THIS TOPIC AND SUBJECT MATTER ARE NOT FACTS!
The registry is misleading to the point of being less than worthless. They claim the registry is a public safety tool or for “advisory” purposes. That’s cute, except it’s not. It’s does NOT matter if the registry is 100% accurate because the core messaging is misleading and inauthentic. Why? because it’s disingenuous pathologize everyone with a prior sex offense and lump them into group.
[moderated]
@factsshouldmatter….. keep writing. You speak for me and many. Thank you.
Any truth to this?
Change.org
Abolish the Sex Offender Registry
Take the next step!
14,421
Verified signatures
I have seen this petition but want to know if it’s legitimate?
@P
Change.org is a legit site if that helps. Most post put a name on who started the petition.
When it started with just wanting to know where you lived, one could make a legal argument it was not punishment. Somewhere between there and 50+ requirements, any of which trigger a 3rd degree felony if not timely updated, plus residency restrictions, it became impossible to make that argument. It is punishment and the Florida Supreme Court, the 11th circuit court, or the US Supreme Court needs to rule it as such. People’s rights are being subverted for no valid reason as the registry nor residency restrictions have done anything to reduce crimes of this nature.
ALAN
In my area, if the registry clerk makes a mistake in even spelling your name wrong, they ding us for the mistake because they tell you to look it over the paperwork and sign that everything is correct.
I once noticed they had the wrong eye color on my paperwork which was odd because I had never changed my eye color and think they did that to catch me up. I called and they corrected it but made me nervous. And who or why was it changed in the first place?
Imagine being in a cell with Bubba and tells you he was in jail for murder. Then he asks what you did to get arrested and we say, “I didn’t have the right eye color”. What a way to live day to day wondering if it is our last day of freedom.
[moderator’s note: It is unclear whether there has ever been an arrest associated with eye color discrepancy].
Cherokee Jack, I have found many small changes repeatedly in the registry information. The most common being vehicles added or omitted from previous registries. Each time I point it out and make sure it is corrected. I agree it is done on purpose. I believe it is done so that they have an excuse to arrest you and eliminate your chance to be removed from the registry. I save all of my previous registration forms because of this. I go further to scan them into my computer and e-mail them to myself so that I will always have a record of it. Though I have not had to use these records to defend against trumped up charges I have them.
Last year I had to go to Highlands County on a business trip and completed the transient registration there at the jail. I got spooked in the first couple of days and decided to cut the trip short. When I went to the registration office to report leaving the county the Detective in charge was actually in his office. He did my outbound registration and then changed it to a full registration.
This FULL registration scared the crap out of me as he seemed adamant on hemming me up for something. However it turned out to be a good thing as he treated it as an initial registration. He determined that my hair color was brown (It has been a dark blonde most of my life) and changed that. He also during the questions on internet identifiers told me that I was not reporting all of the ones I had. He proceeded to check a data base and found 13 that Google automatically signed me up for when I got a new android phone.
Since I had not used these apps but they were on my phone I could have been arrested for them. I stayed worried for months after I got home that he would in fact charge me with violations.
My point is that we should always be on guard and look for any discrepancy that they could use against us.
@James
That is why I have an “El-cheapo” phone I use that has no apps and only makes calls and texts. I do not travel other than locally and try my best to avoid speeding and usually drive like a Grandma so I don’t get pulled over for anything.
Verizon has tried to kick me off my plan as they told me I am the only person left in the U.S with that pre-paid plan that I am on. They told me 2 years ago that site was going dark but I still pay $30 a month and still sign into the site and they accept my payment and renew the plan for another month each time. They have tried numerous times to say my phone no longer works but I just re-set it and it works again.
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/florida/2025/01/10/florida-appeals-court-rejects-sex-predator-label-rule-for-drivers-licenses/