The unintended victims of sexual crime hysteria
By Sandy Rozek
First published at NARSOL
It is seldom that the morning newsfeed offers not two but three pieces dealing with the same topic, a topic that piques my interest and warrants some consideration.
Some states structure their sexual offender registry so that a technical violation is punishable by a jail or prison sentence and in some states is considered a new sexual offense. This may be tied in with a violation of sexual offense probation. Granted, when on probation or parole, restrictions are more rigid and expectations of autonomy are fewer, but the question remains: Is incarcerating a person for a year or longer the best solution for a technical violation that involves no new attempt at committing a crime against a person?
Read more here.
I do not know of any other group, crime or program in the United states, that punish people for something that is supposed to be “Non-punitive”. Of course I am talking about the so called “Non punishing” sex offender registry. How can the courts keep saying it is not punishment, when if you make an honest mistake on a registration rule (of which there are 100s by some counts) you can be sent to prison, in some cases for life.
Not even some murderers get life, even as repeat offenders.
@CherokeeJack
You know it, I know it, the courts, government, and people know it: saying “civil regulatory” and “non-punitive” is just a way for them to punish without calling it that.
Imagine that you elect to keep all your money from your paycheck and have nothing taken out; come April 15th, you don’t bother reporting it. The IRS comes for you because they call it TAX EVASION. Simple: tell them that it’s NOT tax evasion. You were already collecting refunds for the money you would have gotten back anyway and a little extra for service charge and were just saving them paperwork!! Wouldn’t this be the same thing?
When these laws were created they were not to punish or become an extension of punishment. They took a law an made it punitive to nearly 45% of all offenders when they made the 5/17/1996 Federal Amendment before Florida Law. On 8/25/1997 the 3rd Circuit who ruled on what is punitive for Retroactive. We hold that (1) the notification requirements of Megan’s Law do not constitute state inflicted “punishment” on Tier 2 and Tier 3 registrants for purposes of the Ex Post Facto and Double Jeopardy Clauses; Look at the stats 528 Tier 1, 585 Tier 2 and 59 Tier 3. So what they did, they took away Tier 1 ( Not for public notification ) an then made it a 2 Tier level system with PN on both but didn’t remove anything to justify this removal. It’s what The original “John Doe” from Jersey ( ME ) may be fighting for as a Retro Tier 1 on the Florida public registry. This Ex Post Facto has clout as it has a civil judgement already.
So how can prescribing criminal offenses to a civil regulatory scheme be constitutional? Every year the hoop gets higher and smaller that we are forced to jump through each year and the penalty if we fail? Straight to jail with the lost of everything that you have worked for since your release from custody. Other people release from custody who committed felonies are not forced to live under fear like some mythical Sword of Damocles hanging over our heads but the fear is real. How can failure to register carry more felony points at sentencing than my initial conviction? If it truly civil this makes no sense?
These technical violations serve no purpose but to try and find away to incarcerate the people with low recidivism rates, if they didn’t have low recidivism rates, they would be back in prison on a sex charge. But no, politicians goal is to be completely free of registrants by showing they can’t abide by the so called “rules” when the rules can be summarized as jumping up and down on one leg, while saying the alphabet backwards and patting your head then if you pass it only get harder next year, with all of the previous conditions but now they will say “hope you can juggle one handed as well”.
Eugene
I have made this statement before, but your comment brings it back up. Here is the scenario. You get arrested for a technical registry violation and sent to prison. Here is my conversation with my bunk mate.
Bruno: I killed my entire family, what did you do to get in here.
Me: I forgot to register an old email address from 1995.
Bruno: No really you can tell me, what did you do……………….
Yep, and only one of us will be wearing a gps monitor when they get out. (since new law says registrants, have to wear a GPS device for six months upon their first failure to register offense)
But yet it’s not punishment. What is there definition of punishment then? If it quacks like a duck walks like a duck and looks like a duck it’s a duck but in Florida I guess they call it “civil”.
I would like to see survivor edition of being a registrant. You take these contestants and you tell them the game show is new “survivor”. You drop them off in a random place in Florida, give them 50 dollars just like when you leave prison. Then you give them a bunch’s of pieces of paper, why they think it’s a treasure hunt. No, it’s a list of restrictions and conditions that you must abide by and the rules of the game will change at any time and will never be for your benefit then the object of the game is somehow to find a job and we’ll see how long each contestant will last. That what a new failure to register equates to.
Not a lawyer but it has always occurred to me that this takes away due process? Especially since the registry is supposedly civil?
Old Karen
You hit the key trigger word on top of the head. “Supposedly”.
Definition: According to what is generally assumed or believed. Often used to indicate that the speaker doubts the truth of the statement.
I’ll have to disagree with Sandy on this one. Even A two month jail sentence for a violation of something that is not considered punishment is still punishment. It should be the same as a civil violation. A monetary charge, jail should not even be considered. If it is not punishment , even a traffic violation doesn’t include jail in all except extreme circumstances when other violations are included with it.
One of the problems with NARSOL in general and Sandy’s piece here in particular regards the phrasing that NARSOL recommends everyone follow their probation requirements. Fair enough. But NARSOL should be advocating for the end of lifetime probation and the end to the registry, not just the mitigation of it. NARSOL should be advocating for stripping away the wicked mechanism that enslaves the SO, including those agents of the state who excercise their outlandish power. While it is a registrant’s duty to follow the law and know the requirements, it is important to note HOW easily one can run afoul of the regs, much of it beyond control of registrants. Probation and parole officers with a little power, sadistic state patrolmen, and callous, free-wheeling judges have exercised their power knowing full well how easily public support can be garnered against the so-called SO. In VA, I was arrested for entering a library and using a computer, something the PO had given me permission to do. Well, children go to libraries, therefore you are guilty, I was told. The judge allowed me out — minus $500 later, snarkily saying, “He just doesn’t learn, does he?” And I had been falsely convicted on the lies of two other “honorable” court officers two years earlier. Instead, NARSOL should advocate for laws like VA Code 19.2-306.1, which forces judges to review the first two “technical ” violations with the understanding that the system is flawed, and instead impose a more limited, restorative justice option than is incarceration. THAT would be a real boon for ALL the unintended victims. [deleted: link to 55 minutes of video that could not be reviewed by moderator]
@Norman
Something similar happened when I was on probation. Once I finished house arrest where you had to submit a sheet each week stating “EVERYWHERE” you were going to be, my probation did not require that.
I was given a list of places I could not go and the place I went was not on the list. I went with a friend to Bush Gardens in Tampa and while there, I got a phone call on my cell phone. I answered and it was the probation officer. When she asked where I was, I was honest (Because it was NOT on the banned list).
Well that did not end well. Although she allowed me to stay, she asked to speak to my friend and told him all my charges and made sure he was not under 18.
When I got home, she was waiting in my driveway and chewed me out for almost 30 minutes, saying she was 2 steps from violating me. Her argument was I should have known better than to go to a theme park on probation? Yeah, I forgot I am a part time fortune teller.
Yes, CherokeeJack, my point is MANY of us have had similar issues to what you and I describe. I was on probation during Covid. A friend, who had visited his friend in KY, started his return to his worksite in South America (He is filipino) in early March when his vacation ended. ace was closing, but he’d probably make it back into So. America. In Miami, they grounded all planes, closed US airspace, and he was trapped. Don’t worry, they told him, he could stay in the airport for up to a month! Panicked, he called me, and I paid to fly him up here to DC area, the theory is he’d have 5 airports to possibly use to get back. During his 4 month (!) stay, my PO found out (don’t recall how). She sat in her car in my parking space and with me sitting on my front porch 20 feet away, argued with me in the same fashion as yours did you for 30 minutes, haranguing me as to why I would not tell her about my guest (he was 32 at the time btw), and I told her it was none of her damn business. Nor was it a violation of any rule. She threatened to violate me; I threatened to sue and told her she was nuts. Later, two years, I got a job working with DOC through another agency; my first professional job since I was arrested in 2018. DOC screwed me over by refusing to give me access to facilities as required, citing my “disrespect” of the PO, the process, and the DOC central office staff (??? -somehow???). They threw that in for good measure. My PO had also called my family out of state and got my own sister to file a protective order against me, claiming I would harm my now demented mother, suffering cognitively. I chewed PO out; attorney was enraged at her. Even when the judge refused to allow DOC to extend my probation, DOC put that in their internal files as “they threw me out of probation.” No, my probation had ended. Dishonest jerks til the end.
Norman
I agree NARSOL s handling of this is very disappointing. Making it understandable that more is not being accomplished
The last couple years there has been a case in the news about a white police officer that shot and killed a black person. He has been sentenced to a long prison sentence. There has been discussion as to whether the governor of Missouri will take action to get him a reprieve . The Governor made a statement on the news saying “ We must look at matters and judge by facts not emotion. “
My thoughts are isn’t that the same problem we are all having . The entire registry was established on emotion not on laws or facts. Just that here we have a government official admitting this problem exists.
David
The Golden ticket they have in their corner is, every single person in the U.S who has no connection to someone on the registry, has their head filled with the idea we are all monsters who should be put to death. Usually when someone has a family member put on the registry, that is when we gain a new advocate.
I have personally never ever had contact nor been contacted or harassed by the listed victim in my case. However, people who do not even know me or have a connection to me, will drive 20 miles just to come and harass me and others because they know law enforcement will do nothing to protect us. And we are not allowed to have any sort of protection, other than maybe a random 2×4 with some nails in the end we may keep in the garage.
I wish F.A.C would do a post where all of us could list all the attacks we have had on us and law enforcement did nothing. Anywhere from our tires being sliced to having urine thrown in our face or even physically beaten. No other crime do I know of do people who have no connection to the accused, attack and sometimes kill the accused, just because they saw a story on the news. (Maybe a random crime here and there but no where near what we experience)