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Fla. Sex Offenders Barred from Hurricane Shelters

By Jeralyn, Section Crime Policy
Posted on Sun Aug 07, 2005 at 03:07:54 PM EST
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Why don't we just call out the firing squad and shoot all sex offenders? That's what it's coming down to. Latest example: Florida has banned sex offenders from hurricane shelters. Instead, in the event of a hurricane, they are to report to prison, where they will be held in the visitor's waiting room (so they know they are free to leave.)

Sex offenders have to sign a form that outlines instructions, wear an ID badge, and they can be searched by authorities at any time.

An ACLU official makes the appropriate point:

the more steps you take to isolate and ostracize them ... there are very few options for them to live their lives and not reoffend," he said.

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    Fla. Sex Offenders Barred from Hurricane Shelters | 19 comments (19 topical)
    Re: Fla. Sex Offenders Barred from Hurricane Shelt (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:02 PM EST
    I worked in a non-profit law firm this summer, where a sex offender came in who was being evicted from his hotel room (which is considered a residence if you stay for long enough). He could not go to the homeless shelter since he fell under Megan's Law. This guy was over 50 years old and illiterate. If there was any sickness left in him, I had no doubt that if any thing would encourage him to seek out his worst pleasures, it would be the pain, despair, and ostracization of living on the street. I must admit, getting shelter somewhere, even a prison, is better than nothing. But the point about being ostracized is well taken.

    Re: Fla. Sex Offenders Barred from Hurricane Shelt (none / 0) (#2)
    by DawesFred60 on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:02 PM EST
    That is insane, what was the guy going to do, jump up a rape some kid, and what kind of sex offender is he? is he like the 90 percent who had sex with some girl of 16 when he was 19 years old?..what is happening here is a political move to keep you from asking questions about sex offenders and the Laws. But on the other hand if the guy was really evil and did rape kids why is he out of prison?

    Re: Fla. Sex Offenders Barred from Hurricane Shelt (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:02 PM EST
    I don't feel that people that have paid their debt to society should be subjugated to this type of scrutiny. Either increase the sentences or let them be.

    Re: Fla. Sex Offenders Barred from Hurricane Shelt (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:02 PM EST
    I see nothing wrong with this -- they are provided shelter. If a person is not allowed to be around children, why should shelters be an exception? Imagine if a sex offender whisked a child off to a broom room for 10 minutes; that kid will be scarred for life. Is it really worth the risk?

    Re: Fla. Sex Offenders Barred from Hurricane Shelt (none / 0) (#5)
    by BigTex on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:02 PM EST
    This policy is inane. FL has mandatory evacuations. The story would be less appaling, though still appaling, if the evacuations weren't mandatory. The state created the underlying probation violation issue by treating the offenders in such a disgraceful manner. If the risk of placing them in a shelter is too great, then create some other suitable place for them to ride out the storm. Don't send them to prison. Even if they are just "visitors" they are still being mandated to report to prison. That's degrading to a point that it is punishment.

    Re: Fla. Sex Offenders Barred from Hurricane Shelt (none / 0) (#6)
    by scarshapedstar on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:03 PM EST
    Canblogspam, people who've killed get less of a punishment. I'm not going to get into which is worse but at some point I wonder if this is really all about protecting the innocent.

    Re: Fla. Sex Offenders Barred from Hurricane Shelt (none / 0) (#7)
    by pigwiggle on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:03 PM EST
    “the more steps you take to isolate and ostracize them ... there are very few options for them to live their lives and not reoffend," he said.” This is nothing less than ridiculous (and yes, I understand this is TL’s editing and not necessarily the spokesman’s intent). A sex offender does not need, nor is forced to choose between offending and shelter, or offending and acceptance by a neighborhood, or offending and a job. This is an often repeated but wholly unsubstantiated claim; released sex offenders are nominally reformed but will offend if the community does ‘fill in the blank’. It is fear mongering for an agenda. I doubt folks are concerned with registering 18 yr old men busted sleeping with their underage girlfriends. Folks want violent rapists and pedophiles registered. It has been shown that these folks are around twice as likely to reoffend than other kinds of sexual offenders and are prone to seek victims within a very close range to their home and workplace, that is wherever they frequent. Given these characteristics it isn’t unreasonable to inform folks that live next to sexual offenders and seek to keep them separated from areas concentrated with their choice targets.

    Re: Fla. Sex Offenders Barred from Hurricane Shelt (none / 0) (#8)
    by roger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:03 PM EST
    PW, You are right as far as "what folks want", but that is not the law. These registration, and shelter, requirements can round up the less serious offenders along with the true pedophiles. At least some of the "living within a certain distance" laws recently written only apply when the victim is 12 or under. I am unsure as to the shelter rule.

    Re: Fla. Sex Offenders Barred from Hurricane Shelt (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:03 PM EST
    Ehh, sex offenders. Obviously, someone - Jeb Bush, maybe? - wants to change the subject from the lack of Florida's preparedness for hurricanes or some other such ineptness. After all, who's gonna stick up for some sleazebag pedophile's right to be crowded into a shelter during a very long storm with hundreds of 10-year-old kids? It's just a ploy to divert attention from other issues. Storm preparedness and recovery must be pretty incompetent down there for the politicians to be sinking to such a low level as to tout this kind of action. (Note to rightwingers and other obtuse individuals: of course, sex crimes, like many other kinds of crime, are awful and studies show that many sex offenders cannot be trusted near the object of their sick obsessions. How to deal with this kind of criminality is a subject for another day. It is the fact that this particular action reeks of sleight of hand rather than a serious grappling with the legal and moral complexities that arise from the prosecution and punishment of sex crimes that I've chosen to focus upon. )

    Re: Fla. Sex Offenders Barred from Hurricane Shelt (none / 0) (#10)
    by swingvote on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:03 PM EST
    Pigwiggle, I've done some searching and every version of this quote I can find is identical, indicating that this is most likely not editing at all but an attempt to show, by an elipsis, that the speaker paused and spoke in two sentence fragments rather than a complete sentence. And I agree, on it's face this is a truly ignorant statement, as simple logic tells you that the more ostracized a sexual offender is from the rest of society, the fewer opportunities they will have to reoffend. But I think, based on the overall context, that what the spokesman meant to say is that these people are more likely to reoffend with more laws and rules that they have to avoid offending. I don't think the spokesman meant to say that this people would necessarily reoffend by sexually assulting someone, just that they might break some other law that was aimed at them and thereby end up back in jail again. However you feel about the banning of these people from hurricane shelters, the latter interpretation makes some sense as a statement of fact; either way, the ACLU should find someone who speaks in complete sentences to avoid such confusion in the future. Tristero, Given that these bans are being put in place by local communities, not the state, it is doubtful, but not impossible, that Jeb Bush is behind it, or that it is an organized effort to "change the subject".

    Re: Fla. Sex Offenders Barred from Hurricane Shelt (none / 0) (#11)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:03 PM EST
    No one despises pedophiles more than I, but our national hysteria over them is getting a little ridiculous. To echo some of the other commenters, if they are that dangerous they shouldn't be out of prison. In America, the state just can't be allowed to force free men to go to prison. A policy like that is the beginning of the end.

    Re: Fla. Sex Offenders Barred from Hurricane Shelt (none / 0) (#12)
    by pigwiggle on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:03 PM EST
    “indicating that this is most likely not editing at all but an attempt to show, by an elipsis,”
    It looks that way. I traced it back to the source interview and it is repeated verbatim. My apologies TL, I should have taken the time before criticizing.
    “based on the overall context, that what the spokesman meant to say is that these people are more likely to reoffend with more laws and rules that they have to avoid offending.”
    Maybe, but I doubt it. Pointing out that writing more laws simply provides more ways folks can break laws isn’t really saying much, and certainly isn’t a unique problem for sex offenders. But more importantly, I’m sure most folks mean sex offense when talking about sex offenders and reoffending.

    Re: Fla. Sex Offenders Barred from Hurricane Shelt (none / 0) (#13)
    by swingvote on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:03 PM EST
    Pigwiggle, I have no doubt that most people may think that way when they say such things, but if we assuem that it what the ACLU spokeman meant, his comment is incoherent. I'm more inclined to believe that he meant to say something else, but we'll probably never know.

    Re: Fla. Sex Offenders Barred from Hurricane Shelt (none / 0) (#14)
    by Johnny on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:04 PM EST
    No unwanted behavior has EVER been legislated out of existence. Good luck Florida, sending free men to prison is a blunder, but a state that elected a Bush deserves to have freedoms peeled away one by one. The next logical step here of course is to require violent criminlas who have been released to report to local police stations and/or county jails... You get all of the "unwanted elements of society" in one place at one time when mother nature is doing it's best to wipe that state off the planet, who's going to know they didn't drown? As the wrong wingers LOVE to say, Freedom isn't free... And this crap my wrong wing friends, is NOT something free countries do.

    Re: Fla. Sex Offenders Barred from Hurricane Shelt (none / 0) (#15)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:05 PM EST
    Ah yes, the old broom-closet-during-a hurricane trick. Especially with a few hundred people standing around. Are you people eating bowls of retard for breakfast?

    Re: Fla. Sex Offenders Barred from Hurricane Shelt (none / 0) (#16)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:05 PM EST
    Che nailed it. Who are the legislative wizards who came up with this one?

    Re: Fla. Sex Offenders Barred from Hurricane Shelt (none / 0) (#17)
    by john horse on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:05 PM EST
    Using their own logic, the Florida legislators should be barr themselves from hurricane shelters. They've been screwing every man, woman, and child in this state for years. Doesn't that make them sex offenders?

    Re: Fla. Sex Offenders Barred from Hurricane Shelt (none / 0) (#18)
    by john horse on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:05 PM EST
    Next time there is an actual hurricane I would invite these Florida politicians to actual work a disaster. I know some state emergency management employees and what I have heard is that after all the disasters that hit last year they are stressed out. They are stressed out because they are underpaid, understaffed, and overworked. Many are OPS or temps, meaning that they work without any benefits (sick leave, annual leave, insurance, etc.). This is something that the Florida legislature can do something about. Instead they spend their time grandstanding to prove how tuff they are on crime.

    Re: Fla. Sex Offenders Barred from Hurricane Shelt (none / 0) (#19)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:06 PM EST
    A perfect example of feel-good, yet utterly worthless legislation.

    Fla. Sex Offenders Barred from Hurricane Shelters | 19 comments (19 topical)