Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Needed: Experienced Legislative Bill-writer Regarding and Familiar with the Laws of the Sex Offender Issue

As an advocate for the low-risk, non-violent sex offender and those truly not posing risk in our state, I am seeking a Bill-writer to assist with change for more sensible legislation when it involves the mass designation, labeling a sex offender. 

The way I see it, tiering of these offenders seems to be the only answer. Levels of risk along with implementing assessment through a board of therapists can actually remedy this hysteria that lumps a low risk, non-violent offender, no differently than the most violate offender, while easing the waste with money and lightening the financial burden in the State of Florida.

If interested in making change in Florida contact me at one.to.see.change@gmail.com.


One to See Change: Petition to sign: Florida Citizens: Support our Le...

One to See Change: Petition to sign: Florida Citizens: Support our Le...: Everyone please sign the petition: Florida Citizens: Support our Legislative Initiative!

Friday, August 23, 2013

U.S. judge overturns Colorado city's sex offender residency law

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/22/us-usa-sexoffenders-colorado-idUSBRE97L15B20130822

Advocating Violence against Sex Offenders

LAKE MONROE, FLORIDA – August 23, 2013

Yesterday, a Texas couple was charged with beating a man. Their reason? As Action 4 News reported, “[b]oth of them told police that they did it because the man was a sex offender.” 

Today a man was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a sex offender he ambushed outside his trailer and last month, in Jonesville, South Carolina, another couple shot and killed a man and his wife. They were planning on killing others. “He went through our sex offender registry,” said Jonesville Sheriff David H. Taylor, “and individually picked out targets.”

This Tuesday, the title of a Broward/Palm Beach New Times article was, “They Shoot Sex Offenders, Don’t They?” While the title may have been intended to be satirical, in fact, it’s the truth. They do shoot sex offenders! Not only the offenders themselves, but their spouses and children.

How much more vigilante violence, harrassment, shaming and murder will be imposed on registrants and families, before we recognize that the registry is being used as a tool for punishment?


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.

Miami Sex Offender Encampment Grows to 80 Transient

LAKE MONROE, FLORIDA – August 23, 2013

There are over 80 registered sex offenders currently registered as transient, living within feet of the railroad tracks at NW 71st Street and 36th Court in Miami. 

Yesterday, The Florida Action Committee sent a letter to the head of the Circuit Administrator for the State’s Department of Corrections, Maria DiBernado, asking what will be done about the growing encampment.

A copy of the letter is below:

Dear Ms. DiBernado:

As you are aware, an encampment of sex offenders has developed in the above-referenced area. At present, the FDLE registry shows approximately 75 individuals registered as transient there.

These people sleep alongside the railroad tracks within feet of passing trains. They are forced to urinate and defecate in bushes across the tracks, as there is no alternative. 


A majority came to that location because they were displaced from homes at the River Park Trailer Park or surrounding area within the past few weeks as a consequence of the County’s harsh sex offender ordinance.

Some have spouses and children. Most have families or other stable living situations they could arrange if not for the residency restrictions. 

Setting aside the question of whether forcing people into homelessness facilitates the goals of supervision and the fact that studies have shown that housing instability is consistently and strongly associated with criminal recidivism and absconding, our community is in a situation where dozens of human beings were thrown to the streets for no new crime other than being on a list of second-class citizens.

The Florida Action Committee (FAC) is not a law firm. We will leave the legality of this situation to those qualified. We are, however, an advocacy group comprised of concerned citizens and professionals who seek to promote the prevention of sexual abuse while preserving the safety and dignity of all citizens. 

Over the past several weeks we have been contacted by individuals displaced and their family members. They have described to us the inhumane conditions at the encampment. That they were ordered to move from their homes with less than a week’s notice. That many were originally directed to River Park and then forced out, as was the case in Shorecrest and the Julia Tuttle Causeway.

We implore you to speak with experts in the field of sex offender management, read the well- documented studies on recidivism rates amongst this population and the effects of housing instability and transience. We then hope that you will work with legislators and municipal administrators to come up with a solution to this serious and growing problem. 

As to the immediate problem; the County or State should, at minimum, provide a safer field, warehouse or portable toilets to accommodate these individuals in the interim.

Kindly let us know what is being done with respect to this situation in both the short-term and long-term.


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.


Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Kate Hunt back in jail after allegedly exchanging 20,000 messages with 14-year-old, meeting for sex | LifeSiteNews.com

Kate Hunt back in jail after allegedly exchanging 20,000 messages with 14-year-old, meeting for sex | LifeSiteNews.com

Fixing the Broken Civil Commitment System in Florida



LAKE MONROE, FLORIDA – August 20, 2013.  

“Sex Predators Unleashed” was the headline on the cover of Sunday’s Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. The attention-grabbing story highlighted several instances where Florida’s civil commitment program had failed victims by not keeping those considered for civil commitment locked up.

The crimes featured in the article were tragic. They should have never happened. The Sun Sentinel found that “1,384 sex offenders had been rearrested on new sex charges. In comparison, 759 sex offenders have been committed to the state’s sex predator treatment center. That means for every one committed, nearly two others were released and then arrested on a sex charge.” What the article does not say is that all of the sex offenders released from Florida prisons – 31,0000 of them -- were screened for civil commitment over 14 years. Of approximately 31,000 sex offenders who were assessed and released, there were 1,400 recidivists. That statistic represents a 5% recidivism rate over 14 years. That means that for every one re-arrested, about 20 did not go on to commit new sex crimes.   In 95% of the cases, the screening team, evaluators, courts and program officials made the right call.

Of the sexual recidivists, there were 14 murders, accounting for about of 1% of the recidivistic cases and less than 5 in 10,000 of all sex offenders released from prison. While these egregious cases are heinous and unacceptable, they are rare events. In most cases the Sexually Violent Predator program did, in fact, do a good job of identifying the worst of the worst. The vast majority of sex offenders did not go on to commit any new sex crime and most are strictly supervised in the community.

Jill Levenson, Associate Professor at Lynn University, was one of the experts interviewed for the article. The Florida Action Committee (FAC) spoke with Dr. Levenson about the article and she stated, “It is naïve to think that we can prevent all repeat crimes. The best we can do is use the best evidence we have to identify those at highest risk to reoffend using an empirically derived and consistent system. These tragic cases should be thoroughly examined so that the SVP program, probation officers, treatment providers, and court officials can identify areas where specific policies or procedures can be improved. At the same time, there should be a close look at the 95% of offenders who did not reoffend, so we can identify and enhance the sex offender management and treatment strategies that are working well.”

Dr. Eric Imhof PsyD, stated, “risk assessments of future human behavior are on the cutting edge of science with a voluminous literature base and new information about how to improve risk assessments published by researchers every day.  It should be noted that the Department of Children and Families (DCF) Sexually Violent Predator Program has stringent standards for training and experience before contracting with an evaluator and requires their evaluators to attend intensive annual or often bi-annual trainings to keep them up to date on the latest developments in the field.  These standards ensure quality control at the second phase of evaluation process for sexually violent predators.  Unfortunately, there is no such oversight for evaluators once the case is transitioned from DCF to the courts and it is noted that, in three of the high profile rape and murder cases described in the article, these offenders were released, based in part, on testimony proffered by evaluators who are not, and have never been, DCF evaluators and one that is no longer a DCF evaluator.  This leads one to question the quality control that is in place during the commitment or annual review phase of the process.  Ironically, Florida does have legislation that requires mental health professionals assessing or treating sex offenders to undergo minimum training and attend a minimum number of continuing education requirements to become ‘Qualified Practitioners’ (F. S. 948.001(9) & Florida Rule 64B4-7.0081); however, this standard is under-enforced and the establishment of detailed standards for ‘Qualified Practitioner’ were circumvented by psychologist and psychiatrists who perform the vast majority of sexually violent predator evaluations and testimony.  Requiring certification by the State of Florida or, at least, establishment of detailed criteria to define ‘Qualified Practitioner’ for psychologists and psychiatrists would go a long way to ensuring minimum standards and quality control for those mental health professionals that work with this potentially dangerous population.”

FAC agrees with Dr. Eric Imhof. While the legislature is well meaning here, there are a few areas in which this process can improve.  As this is a highly specialized area there should be required training and continuing education in this field. It should be a public safety issue, not a political one. FAC supports having a step-down practice for anyone released to have support in the community and checks and balances, not as additional punishment, but for public safety to ensure a released former offender from the SVPP program has a connection in the community to have access to resources to assist in transitioning safely and successfully back to society.

FAC also spoke with Dr. Suzonne Kline, PsyD who, for years, headed up the SVP program for the State of Florida. Dr Kline disagreed with many of the findings in the Sun-Sentinel investigation. “No changes were made to the Sexually Violent Predator Program for budget purposes. During my tenure, the program was continuously funded and supported by the agency. Criteria were not narrowed, but intentionally tightened to reflect the most recent scientific literature in the field and for screening purposes only, making the program more efficient and in line with the Florida Statute to identify the most dangerous of sexual predators.  In addition, a third independent expert was brought in and required to review all cases with 2 or more sex convictions.  This represented an additional safe-guard for the program's screening process. If any one expert requested a face-to-face evaluation, the case moved forward.”

Dr. Kline also agreed with Dr. Levenson and stated, “No program can be 100% effective. We are dealing with human behavior. Despite enormous strides in actuarial and dynamic risk assessment, the fact remains that we cannot predict the future. What we can offer, however, are estimates of how likely one individual's risk of recidivism relates to another.” 

When putting public safety at the forefront, Dr. Kline’s position on the matter is in line with those of most experts in the field of sex offender management as well as victim’s advocacy groups; “the vast majority if sex crimes are NOT committed by convicted sex offenders.  They are committed by first-time offenders.  Educating the public, policy-makers and media of this empirically validated fact is of the utmost importance in order to change public policy and make our communities safer.”

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.

Friday, August 9, 2013

Sex offenders forced from Allapattah trailer park, now in Hialeah

Sex offenders forced from Allapattah trailer park, now in Hialeah

Be Heard: Please Read and share.

An article of interest just came out in the Miami Herald, covering the RSOs at the River Park trailer park who were displaced from their homes last week. This is a topic that we have issued several press releases on over the past couple of weeks.

The article mentions the 54 RSOs living at River Park, but doesn’t mention another 11 that were also displaced from Paradise Mobile Home Park last week, as well as others living in the area. If you do a search of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Sex Offender Database for the area of 71 St. and NW 36 Ct. in Miami, you will find over 70 people now registered as Transient at that location.

These people who last week had a home, were living law abiding lives - some for decades after their crime, are now living outdoors, along the railroad tracks in a warehouse district with no access to electricity or plumbing. They have to urinate and defecate in a field.

We strongly urge our members to comment on the article and share it with others. It will take international media exposure to help put an end to this inhumane practice.

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Florida: Where’s the Fire? An Observation on Sex Offenders in the Media

Lake Monroe, Florida - August 6, 2013


During the past week we’ve issued three press releases concerning a very pressing issue. Miami-Dade County is expelling about 100 registered sex offenders from the trailers and apartments they have lived in for years because a school was identified within the 2500 foot County buffer. With residency restrictions creating extremely limited housing options, most are left with nowhere to go but the streets.

A search of the State’s sex offender registry will find many of these displaced individuals now living transient on the corner of 71st Street and NW 36th Court in Miami. Approximately 60 are registered there currently, with more on the way.

After distributing our press releases to the local media, we were certain the story would be picked up or we would be contacted for comment.

On one hand; hard working people who paid their rent getting kicked out of their homes and forced into homelessness would be compelling as a human interest piece. On the other; the County potentially creating 100 new homeless sex offenders in the same month that a significant study reported that homeless sex offenders have higher re-offence rates than non-homeless, would be compelling as a public safety alert.

But no; surprisingly this story has received little attention from the media. Apparently, the South Florida news community had “bigger fires” to report on. Literally, this one; http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Two-Men-Arrested-for-Burning-Random-Items-Deputies-218355441.html

As we monitored local headlines to see who would react to our notifications, we found the above story on our local NBC affiliate station. Apparently they caught a sex offender burning trash in a back yard!

The reality of this scenario is that we’ve so marginalized one class of our own society that we can kick them out into the streets or even murder them (see our other press release from last week: http://floridaactioncommittee.org/PR7_29.htm) and nobody will think twice about it, but catch someone who forgot to register after having committed an offense 15 years ago burning trash in a back yard and it makes headlines across the state.

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.

Florida: Evicted Miami-Dade Sex Offenders are Homeless by Railroad Tracks

LAKE MONROE, FLORIDA – August 6, 2013


Following international media attention that brought embarrassment to the State of Florida, the County of Miami-Dade shut down the Julia Tuttle Sex Offender Camp in 2010. For years prior, sex offenders were sent to live under the bridge because it was one of the few remaining pockets of land within Miami-Dade County where this population could live in light of residency restriction ordinances.

Their expulsion from under the Julia Tuttle overpass caused over 120 inhabitants to scramble for another place they could lawfully live.

Some moved to the Shorecrest area of Miami. In 2012, however, when the population swelled to over 100 registrants within a few blocks and more than 2 dozen homeless registrants sleeping in a field became an unsightly nuisance, they needed a way to move them into someone else’s community.
Commissioner Marc Sarnoff came up with the idea to stick a spring toy in an unkempt lot and call it a “pocket park”, closing off Shorecrest to sex offenders.

Others moved from the Julia Tuttle Bridge to the area along NW 27th Avenue, which is mostly occupied by trailer parks. Last week, however, the County announced that a school (actually, an emergency shelter which went undetected for years as a school) was within 2500 feet and another 100 registrants were given one week to leave the area.

It seems that whenever Miami-Dade pushes its sex offenders into a new cluster, the community finds a creative and convenient way to expel them. Many have families and friends with whom they could live if not for the ordinances preventing them from living anywhere. Even for the ones who committed offenses decades ago or who are non-contact, first time offenders; it simply doesn’t matter. They will be registered and subjected to housing instability for life.

The Florida Action Committee reported last week that more homeless sex offenders were coming to Miami- Dade and we now know where they wound up. As of this morning there are about 60 transient sex offenders registered to the corner of 71st Street and NW 36th Court, alongside railroad tracks in a warehouse district. Many who are being thrown out of the trailers and tiny apartments, in which they lived until this week, now have no realistic alternative other than to camp out as transients under inhumane conditions for no new crime.

That is until, of course, the County decides that the area alongside the railroad tracks needs a pocket park.

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

Monday, August 5, 2013

Florida: 100 Offenders are now left homeless near railroad track.

Anyone affiliated with advocacy regarding HUMAN RIGHTS, please contact info@floridaactioncommittee.org ASAP.

100 Offenders are now left homeless near railroad track.


For more read: http://onetoseechange.blogspot.com/2013/07/part-2-coming-soon-to-your-neighborhood.html

Vigilantism of Sex Offenders (playlist)

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"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:
* * * *
“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.”