Florida Law Leads To Shantytown For Banished Sex Offenders

The New York Times:

They used to be invisible, the four or five convicted sex offenders camping out on the Julia Tuttle Causeway connecting Miami to Miami Beach. But for three years now -- pushed by local laws that bar them from living within 2,500 feet of where children gather -- more and more criminals have moved in.

Read the whole story: The New York Times

Comments

[Majus]

Florida, the Land of Milk and Honey -- and lots of people with lots of money.

Frequently, those with a lot of money lose their values, their sense of compassion, their humanity for people outside their own close-knit circle. This in turns leads to situations such as this one in which people who basically are decent people but made a serious error in judgement -- and paid for it -- are being forced to live like sub-humans.

This is not right, not right at all.

Sure, the ordinary citizens are wanting to protect their children, but that should include teaching their children that it is wrong for them, while underage, to engage in adult activities. In the case of the 18-year-old who had a relationship with a 14-year-old, no mention was made of force so it must have been consensual. Where was her moral standard? Apparently she had none.

That local statute needs to be changed to conform with Florida state law. These folks need to be allowed to pursue their lives in as ordinary a fashion as is possible under the circumstances.

That being said, one should never forget they are a potential enemy, therefore as they say:
"Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer." -- Sun-tzu, Chinese general & military strategist (~400 BC)

That's the very best way to keep an eye on what they are doing -- or trying to do.

[Lyr]

I thought the whole point of prison was you paid your debt to society. It sounds like the punishment continues long after a sentence is served.

[fbr79]

With crimes of a sexual nature it should. When you affect someone for the rest of their lives in a negitve manner and you life should be affected as well. Sentences for sex crimes in America are ridiculous anyways, most of these "gentlemen" spend a couple of years in and get out on good behavior. I guess I just can't feel sorry for child molesters and rapists. Maybe some of the kind souls in this forum complaining about the law can offer these guys boarding.

[VPN]

Problem with YOUR take on that is YOU make way too many ASSUMPTIONS by painting with such a broad brush, that aside, NOBODY deserves to be shunned by society to the extent that hey have few places they can legally live. It may well be necessary to oversee the activities of some of these individuals but a heavy dose of common sense could go a long way to solve these kind of problems. Knee jerk Draconian measures are NOT the answer to protecting society.

[truthfulb]

You are being way to broad all sex offenders are not the extreme criminals that we see on tv or hear about in the news. You remember the black kid who was like 17 had sex with the 16 year old white girl but because he turned 18 during the time he was jailed and treated as a sex offender eventhough he was not.

There are people who fit that critereia. There are girls out there who lie about ther ages and because the guy sdid not do the research got caught in the system over the lie. I mean there are shades of grey in this area and those people are not the ccum that these other molesters and pedophiles and rapist are.

[MoeB]

I'd be willing to offer them housing in the form of my tax dollars going so that they aren't just ROAMING the streets.

Further, most SO end up in jail due to statutory rape laws. So an 18 year old boy/man can't mess around with a 15 year old girl. Somehow that's deplorable.

[TheBaffler]

So true. Other, worse, criminals don't receive continued punishment after serving their time. It seems to me these kinds of laws should be ruled unconstitutional.

[kitkatborn]

This is ridiculous in the extreme. There are no neighborhoods that don't have some children, except adult only apartment complexes. And they are bound to be within 2,500 feet of ordinary residential communities. Somebody dropped the ball on this one.

[NeoStar9]

They had to have known what this would result but simply didn't care in the end. They wanted to look "tough" in the end to get reelected I'm sure. That's all politicians (on both sides) actually care about.

If someone really did drop the ball and didn't know this would happen then they have no business being in any position to make any type of law or have any power to control the lives of others. It's a simple cause and effect situation. If we do A what will it result in? Common sense in the end. The person that didn't see this coming when proposing such a law I wouldn't trust to bag my groceries.

[montecarlo408]

Not to mention the fact that shantytown environments inhabited by people while they know that others are not living in them creates a very hostile environment. This is what makes people return to crime.

[blukazoo]

Read some of the comments posted here. They didn't drop the ball, they found a legal way to continue to punish people after their time has been served. I don't know the solution, but this doesn't seem just, fair, right or beneficial to our society.

[wdw505]

of course it is

[Ohioan730]

This is not good for anybody. I'm a parent and my main concern is children but having all the sex offenders sleep under bridges together creates an even worse situation. Now you've got "rapist alley" to walk past on your way home from work/school. Brilliant.

I know 18 year olds and minors are capable of sexual molestation but when there is a gf-bf situation and the girl is a few years underage, that's just cruel to press charges on him. When I was a teen, a lot of my friends dated boys who were 1, 2, 3 sometimes 4 years older. Those 17, 18 year old boys were no more mentally mature than we were just because they were in the 12th grade and we were in the 9th or 10th. Just wrong.

[LiberalBuzz]

HOW do you know they are all rapists? OR actual hands on offenders?

[MNmommy]

Let me assure you, nobody is walking over the Tuttle Causeway back and forth to school.

That said, it's a ridiculous situation.

[k6007]

excellent, I'm sure their neighbors feel safe, and reassured.

[Grunty1]

[If I can save some kids from going through this agony, I’ve done my job.”]

Then you failed, buddy. By forcing these people to live like animals, you are placing the children in MORE danger.

[PWM]

Exactly.

[ibsteve2u]

Particularly given "..lately, it has become more tense as the recession and the steady flow of former prisoners added residents.”

The results of the self-enriching policies of the Republicans also fall on parents...with children.

It would behoove us to recall that true economic stress - the struggle for day to day survival right at the edge of life - can break morality; even the morality of parents. It happens all over the world - I've seen it.

And it would behoove the right not to point fingers in such cases do occur, for it was their lack of morality - their greed - that created this situation.

[wdw505]

no more danger......just consolidation in one area.......sounds like a good plan.......kids stay away from that area

[NeoStar9]

Horrible what they have done (well those that really did horrible things to children. Some people get hit the sex offender label when they are just a year older then their younger girlfriend or boyfriend.) but having them forced together doesn't benefit anyone. You can not have people like this feeding off of each other and in in conditions like this doesn't result in positive thinking or actions. On top of that you are forcing people to be homeless when they can afford to rent or to own a home.

[EspritDeVoltaire]

It's hard to see how this law serves anyone's interest, in light of the fact that it conflicts with Florida state law.

[amdezurik]

the only interest it served was to help some politicians pretend they were "tough on crime" without any thought of consequence.

[faceplant]

Good!

[Grunty1]

Good??? Yes, lets have sex offenders living on the streets so that time in prison may become a welcomed relief. That ought to encourage them to NOT perform more sex crimes.

Jeebus, people cannot look ahead to the consequences of anything.

[faceplant]

Hopefully, their lives will be ugly enough that they'll end them.

[RoloTomassi]

i.di.ot

[PWM]

Is that you Palin?

[sunnybunny]

Fallout from the modern witch hunt.very sad