Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Part 2: Coming Soon to Your Neighborhood: More Homeless Sex Offenders

LAKE MONROE, FLORIDA – July 30, 2013.

Last month the Florida Action Committee issued a press release entitled “Coming Soon to Your Neighborhood: More Homeless Sex Offenders”. The article highlighted the problem created from rapidly growing numbers of “registered sex offenders” with rapidly decreased housing options, leading to more homeless sex offenders coming to our neighborhoods. As if prophetic, the county of Miami-Dade is about to increase the number of homeless sex offenders in their communities by about one hundred.

This week, the County’s police department will be distributing notices that the residents of the River Park Trailer Park and surrounding area need to move out of their homes. The reason: An emergency shelter for children, which had been undetected as a school for years, is within 2500 feet of the residents.

Almost 100 registered sex offenders had been clustered in the area because it was one of the few pockets of the County in which they could live. Just like the Julia Tuttle Bridge, which fenced in the overpass to prevent the former offenders from living there, or the Shorecrest neighborhood, which installed a pocket part to break up its cluster, the County is once again displacing sex offenders.

 The move creates a public safety concern. Housing instability is one of the triggers for recidivism, making individuals more likely to reoffend. Homeless sex offenders are more likely to abscond from registration. The County’s action, which is supposed to make communities safer, is effectively making the community much more dangerous.

 Earlier this month, Jill S. Levenson, Associate Professor, Human Services at Lynn University and other experts released a study entitled, “Transient Sex Offenders and Residence Restrictions in Florida”. The study found that, “because housing instability is a risk factor for recidivism and undermines effective monitoring of sex offenders, lawmakers should recognize that transience is an unintended negative consequence of these laws and reconsider residence restrictions as a sex offender management policy.”

So, again, unless we do care about public safety and do something to reverse these counterproductive residency restrictions, more homeless sex offenders will be coming to our neighborhoods.

 Florida Action Committee (FAC), founded in 2006, is a state-wide consortium of concerned citizens and professionals whose purpose is to promote the prevention of sexual abuse while preserving the safety and dignity of all citizens through carefully structured laws targeting the truly violent, forced, and/or dangerous predatory acts of sex. FAC believes that many aspects of the current approach to sex offenders seriously undermine justice and actually increase the threat of sexual assault against others, particularly children. FAC opposes a publicized registry of sex offenders and seeks to bring an end to the humiliation of people who have already paid for their crimes. FAC asserts that only by supporting justice for all people—offenders and victims alike can a truly safe society be built and secured for all Americans.

Airing on BBC World Service / Links fof Interest

Airing on BBC World Service: Miracle Village, Pahokee Florida!!
Thursday morning, London time, this week.  There will be a piece on-line on:  www.bbc.co.uk/news. Click through to the programme.  There is a long and a short version – the 26 min version is the longer one. 
BBC Radio Current Affairs expresses thanks for all who participated in the making of the programme – regretfully, some interviewees weren’t used, simply because of time restraints.
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http://onetoseechange.blogspot.com/2013/07/donate-to-make-change-john-doe-vs-city.html or go to http://www.rockethub.com/projects/30301-support-john-doe-s-fight-for-your-employment-and-housing-rights to donate!
Remember your dollar and voice can make change in Florida! Please help another set precedence in our State.
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Criminal Records, NCIC Codes, and the Adam Walsh Act Tier Levels..

http://www.fox19.com/story/22881086/fox19-investigates-does-therapy-work-for-sex-offenders?autostart=true#.UfF75AHizqk.email
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FAC Member Call reminder: Thursday, August 1 at 8:00 pm
Topic will be: "Why Dads Matter." This will introduce a new radio show by same name which focuses on the importance of a father’s role in raising their children. There will be a discussion on how the registry impacts families and fathers who are trying to stay involved with their children.
Go to http://www.talkshoe.com to create an account, use the information below but instead of the 1# pin below, use your pin created with your account, or you can just listen at with 1#.
Call in: 1. Dial: (724) 444-7444 2. Enter: 114125 # (Call ID) 3. Enter: 1 # or your PIN
Don't forget to join FAC for thier September  5, 2013 Member Call–In Meeting when  featured guest will be Jill Levenson, PHD, LCSW

Friday, July 26, 2013

Press release: 90 Sex Offenders Might Become Homeless in Miami-Dade Next Week.

90 Sex Offenders Might Become Homeless in Miami-Dade Next Week.

LAKE MONROE, FLORIDA – July 26, 2013. 

The Florida Action Committee has been advised that next week, approximately 90 registered sex offenders might be notified that they have to leave the mobile homes that they own or rent at the River Park Trailer Park, located at 2260 NW 27nd Avenue.
Recently, authorities were advised by a representative of the County’s Homeless Trust that the registrants are living there in violation of the County’s 2500 foot ordinance, because a “school”, the Miami Bridge, is within that buffer zone.
 

It is unclear as to whether The Bridge is even a school. It is not listed on the Department of Education site and the sex offender registration unit has been permitting the residents to move in for a while – apparently not considering it a school either. On its website, miamibridge.org, the facility is described as a shelter for at-risk youth.
 

Regardless, the residents of the mobile home community and the Miami Bridge have coexisted within the 2500 foot buffer for years, but now 90 otherwise law-abiding, former offenders who are clustered at the trailer park will likely be kicked out of their homes and the County may receive 90 new homeless sex offenders.
 

The Florida Action Committee urges the media to contact the office of the Circuit Administrator of the Department of Corrections, the Miami-Dade Police Department or the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust, to find out more and ascertain the exact date these individuals would become homeless in the community.

Florida Action Committee (FAC), founded in 2006, is a state-wide consortium of concerned citizens and professionals whose purpose is to promote the prevention of sexual abuse while preserving the safety and dignity of all citizens through carefully structured laws targeting the truly violent, forced, and/or dangerous predatory acts of sex. FAC believes that many aspects of the current approach to sex offenders seriously undermine justice and actually increase the threat of sexual assault against others, particularly children. FAC opposes a publicized registry of sex offenders and seeks to bring an end to the humiliation of people who have already paid for their crimes. FAC asserts that only by supporting justice for all people—offenders and victims alike can a truly safe society be built and secured for all Americans.

Join John Doe's fight against City of Palm Bay, Florida's Ordinance 2005-76 by donating NOW!!

Notice to Sexual Offenders

THE CITY OF PALM BAY, BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA, adopted Ordinance 2005-76 on November 17, 2005.  The ordinance makes it unlawful for any sexual predator or sexual offender to enter into or upon any residence, including the cartilage thereof, any designated private or public school facilities or grounds, including school bus stops, any day-care center, library, after-care center, park, playground, hospital, hospice facility, nursing home, adult day-care center, dwelling, domicile, or other place where children or vulnerable adults may reside or regularly congregate, to make deliveries or perform work.  The ordinance defines “vulnerable adults” and a copy of the ordinance can be obtained from the City Clerk’s office located at 120 Malabar Road, SE, Palm Bay, FL  32907.

Any person who violates the ordinance shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree punishable by a fine of $500.00 and a term of imprisonment not exceeding sixty (60) days.  A second or subsequent conviction is punishable, as a first degree misdemeanor, by a fine of $1,000.00 and a term of imprisonment not exceeding one (1) year.

Help with unemployment and your rights:
 Join the fight against City of Palm Bay Ordinance 2005-76
Ordinance 2005-76 in the City of Palm Bay, Florida is presently being challenged by John Doe. This specific ordinance has put many out of work and unable to find jobs because of the harsh restrictions, thus forcing many to move from the city.


If John Doe’s lawsuit is not victorious, the future of other cities within our great nation will be at risk. If John Doe’s suit is won, this victory will set precedence for every city in the United States. How wonderful would that be… finally change can start to happen!

Already, John Doe has personally disbursed $30,000 in legal fees and is asking for additional funds to continue his fight before his funds are extinguished, and the fight is lost.

Think about it, everyone will have the ability to gain employment and work anywhere within their city.

Ask yourself, is it necessary to support yourself and your family wherever you go…. while living freely wherever you choose? Isn’t this what our United States Constitution is at one time based on?
John Doe needs your help now while helping you and others. DONATE NOW!

All amount donated will go directly to John Doe’s suit.


Make a one-time pledge in what you can give, but remember donating$25, $50.00, or even a$100 to John Doe and his fight will not only help you but many just like you who want to led a normal life without restrictions!

Click below to make your donation for the paypal of your choice,  no matter how small or large! Note: your donation is not tax-deductible.

One-time Donation



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If you have any question please contact one.to.see.change@gmail.com.

Coming Soon: Post for Donations For Florida Change!!

Coming Soon!! Donations for "John Doe" against one of Florida's cities! Make change in Florida!

Monday, July 1, 2013

links of interest


EXCLUSIVE REPORT: Sex offenders make Muncie home
Muncie Star Press
According to Douglas Garrison, chief communications officer for the DOC, the state has paid Gilliam about $40,000 to house sex offenders in those two Muncie houses since 2011. "In two years, we haven't had any issues whatsoever with anyone with ...
See all stories on this topic »

 NY - Sex offender notification law a waste of resources | Sex ...
Friday, June 28, 2013. NY - Sex offender notification law a waste of resources ...
sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/.../ny-sex-offender-notificatio...

State Rep calls for change in sex offender checks
WOKV
Adkins is leading an effort to unite the Duval delegation toward figuring out what change can be made to how sex offenders are handled in our criminal justice system. She tells me seeing a registered sex offender with a lengthy criminal record being ...
See all stories on this topic »

http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/2013/06/documentary-filmmakers-are-seeking.html#.UdIqANVvaSo

Links of Interest


EXCLUSIVE REPORT: Sex offenders make Muncie home
Muncie Star Press
According to Douglas Garrison, chief communications officer for the DOC, the state has paid Gilliam about $40,000 to house sex offenders in those two Muncie houses since 2011. "In two years, we haven't had any issues whatsoever with anyone with ...
See all stories on this topic »

 NY - Sex offender notification law a waste of resources | Sex ...
Friday, June 28, 2013. NY - Sex offender notification law a waste of resources ...
sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/.../ny-sex-offender-notificatio...

State Rep calls for change in sex offender checks
WOKV
Adkins is leading an effort to unite the Duval delegation toward figuring out what change can be made to how sex offenders are handled in our criminal justice system. She tells me seeing a registered sex offender with a lengthy criminal record being ...
See all stories on this topic »

http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/2013/06/documentary-filmmakers-are-seeking.html#.UdIqANVvaSo

One To See Change Past Posts

One to See Change Blog List

"When an American says that he loves his country, he means not only that he loves the New England hills, the prairies glistening in the sun, the wide and rising plains, the great mountains, and the sea. He means that he loves an inner air, an inner light in which freedom lives and in which a man can draw the breath of self-respect."
~Adlia Stevenson U.S. Vice President (1893–1897) and Congressman (1879–1881)

On a Personal Note

Thanks for the opportunity to express my thoughts regarding the issue of citizens’ rights, particularly addressing certain sex offenders’ crimes that do not fit the devastating, inequitable and endless punishment given.


As you know, many young men and women lives across the nation are being destroyed by incarceration, life-time registry and restrictive laws that do more harm than good. For those individuals, there is no second chance.

Below is a personal letter to President Obama:
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“Dear President Obama,

I truly agree with your sentiments that individuals, such as ex-felons, should be able to receive a second chance at life. Since we all know that one can veer off that path of life and travel along rough, rocky terrain, sometimes running off and ending up in some ditch. We all have made our fill of mistakes and sometimes those held a costly consequence that changed life forever. So we lived through it, trying harder to make things right with family, friends and those around us, but what about those who aren’t able to make things right even if they tried…because they’re labeled as too dirty, a leper, a person who is rejected from society and home.


But what if they’re a seventeen year old and had sex with a fifteen year old, consensual at that? Or they’re a teen that had gotten so enraged after a breakup that he sent out naked pictures of his girlfriend on his cell phone or email? Or an individual urinates where someone just happens to see them?


All are wrong and a travesty but do they deserve the life of no second chance with a registry that ends all. They are labeled, no jobs, no where to live…they have been deemed a menace to society, a plague. These certain circumstances, and many other situations similar to these, I believe still deserve a second change.

Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution


Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.


After my son’s early release and two years of prison, I thought I had handled that fact graciously knowing after serving his time he would be able to get that fresh start, that second chance. He was an exemplary inmate, GED, college courses and vocational classes. Little did I know that a second chance on the outside was the farthest from the truth? He now struggles and lives in a trailer park sharing a trailer with another and surrounded by others in the same rocking boat, one to float endlessly in shark infested waters. I see him little because of probation requirements (he couldn’t live with us because we were 800 feet near a school). My family is afraid of what would happen to them if he lived with them…vigilantism. My son has no other place to stay since others condemn him of his crime that is screamed from the highest rooftop. Sex offender, sex offender!

Not all sex offenders are pedophiles or predators but some are simply young kids that make one stupid and rash decision that eventually changes everything, and they have no idea what they’ve done until their life is never their own. Exactly, where is that second chance for those sex-offenders who are lumped together with pedophiles and predators? Now, it makes me sick to think of my son’s future and many like him that are on the registry and many with no second chance…ever. I am asking you as a mother and as another concerned citizen of the United States that these laws are looked at again and taken into serious consideration in what they are doing to the Constitution of the United States, not for sex offenders in general but the future rights of every citizen, before anymore are put into effect. They unjustly strip an offender of their rights and place them in a guillotine that can be easily set off by anyone and at anytime. Where is the second chance for ex-sex offenders in the present, pending and future laws?”
* * * *
What truly saddens me is the weakness and deterioration of what the sex offense issue is doing to our once, great nation. Across Europe, others are seeing the injustice and disregard of rights, but we ignore this problem and it makes me wonder where humanity is heading….

We have become a hysterical society in which our latest witch-hunt is a sex offender--no matter his/her crime.

Below is a email sent from a foreign advocate to a father of a sex offender:
* * * *
“The tragic story of your son's death is just so sad that it's difficult to explain how. It was very hard to read your letters. It seems almost unbelievable that this can take place in a democracy! From our point of view, there is no justice in this. Not in any way: not for you, your son, the former girl friend – or even the state.

It is an abusive legal system. It seems barbaric. And we are so very sorry that this takes place. That's why it's so important for us to try to neutralize the debate with this…, hopefully making some changes. ….. to show the every day life of the sex offenders, trying to show how they keep on being punished, even after served prison time…..But we will for sure tell the story of the injustice that your son has been exposed to.”
* * * *
I appreciate everyone's commitment and backing to protect everyone's civil rights, plainly as noted in the Constitution of the United States and is presupposed, giving ALL men are “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.”