Unfounded Halloween Hysteria Against Sex Offenders
Weekly Update 2017-10-10
Dear Members and Advocates,
It’s that time of year again. With Halloween approaching, you’ll begin to see news reports popping up with “keeping your kids safe from sex offenders” stories. Patch.com has already started running their “[CITY NAME] Halloween Sex Offender Safety Map” pages. Although the word “safety” appears in the title, these stories and sites have nothing to do with safety – because children are at no greater risk of being sexually assaulted on Halloween than any other day.
Researcher and University Professor, Dr. Jill Levenson, considered to be the foremost expert on sex offender issues, co-authored a study on this topic, “How Safe Are Trick or Treaters? An Analysis of Child Sex Crime Rates on Halloween.” Which found absolutely no increased rate of sex crimes against children on or around Halloween. (http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1079063209340143#articleCitationDownloadContainer). A Washington study evaluated 13 years of sex offense cases and found only six out of 5560 (0.001%) occurred on Halloween.
However, children are more than twice as likely to get hit and killed by a car while trick-or-treating (analysis of U.S. government data shows that 115 pedestrians under 18 were killed on Oct. 31 over a 21-year period from 1990 to 2010. That’s an average of 5.5 deaths each Halloween, compared with an average of 2.6 on other days). Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also shows that between 2009 and 2013, 43 percent of all motor vehicle deaths occurring on Halloween night resulted from a drunken driving-related crash. In addition, 26 percent of pedestrian fatalities on Halloween involved a drunken driver in 2013.
Yet, come Halloween time, sex offender scare stories permeate the news and create an unjustified fear in the minds of parents, likely distracting them from the actual Halloween dangers. At the same time, registrants are forced into indignity by having to post signs (Duvall County, Florida requires registrants post signs), receive compliance checks from police, turn out their lights and refrain from participating in Halloween activities with their families. Some Counties across the US even require registrants to report to jail on Halloween!
Wouldn’t it be more logical to force anyone with a DUI anywhere in their history to check into jail for the night? Too harsh? … How about refrain from driving that day? Too much of a deprivation of liberty? … How about preventing them from taking their children trick or treating or participating in family holiday celebrations? Too cruel? … OK, how about forcing them to post a sign in their driveways? Too much? … Well if it’s being done to people in scenarios where there is no reasonable relationship to justify the harsh treatment, wouldn’t it make sense to do it where a threat actually exists?
In recent years, mainstream media has begun to realize that sex offender panic might just be one of the “tricks” in trick or treat. Last year, USA Today ran a story questioning whether the treatment of sex offenders during Halloween is unjust (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/10/28/halloween-rules-sex-offenders-unjust/92721420/). Even though the public is beginning to get wise to the truth, undoubtedly over the next three weeks leading up to Halloween, you can expect to read many Halloween scare stories. It’s our hope that you will post comments and replies containing the FACTS in order to help change the public misconception.
Reminder that this Thursday Oct 12th at 8pm there is a New member Orientation call. All members are Welcome to join, learn more about the FAC organization, volunteer your time and talents, and raise awareness about FAC in your area. See Call-in number below.
Sincerely,
The Florida Action Committee
SOME HEADLINES FROM THIS WEEK
Sex offenders may soon be able to live closer to schools, day care centers in Jacksonville
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Registered sex offenders in the River City may soon be able to live closer to schools, public libraries and other places children frequent if the Jacksonville City Council has anything to say about it. The city council will undergo a second…
Lisa Ling to feature “Age of Consent” on CNN’s ‘This is Life’
This Sunday, at 10PM EST, CNN will air ‘This is Life, with Lisa Ling’ This week’s topic is “Age of Consent” and it talks about the legal and social consequences of convicting adolescents and young adults of sex offenses; when teenage sexuality crosses the line and…
Amended Complaint Filed in Miami-Dade SORR Challenge
An Amended Complaint was filed this week in the Miami-Dade Sex Offender Residency Restriction challenge. The original action, which was brought in 2014 by the Florida Action Committee and Individuals who were legislated into homelessness by the Miami-Dade Ordinance…
Registered Sex Offender Killed While in Department of Corrections Custody
A man incarcerated at the Wakulla Correctional Institute Annex, a Florida prison, was killed on Monday. He was a sex offender being held in a protective management program at the prison. While very few details are being released concerning his death, the 36 year old…