http://floridaactioncommittee.org/editorial-county-sex-offender-rules-so-harsh-theyre-counterproductive/
When Palm Beach County commissioners clamped down on sex offenders in 2006, they made little effort to conceal their punitive aim. From the public dais, one county commissioner referred to sex offenders as “animals.” Another urged her fellow commissioners to be “as tough as we possibly can be.”
By a unanimous vote, commissioners decided to more than double the restrictions on where in the unincorporated county registered sex offenders can live. State law already banned them from residing within 1,000 feet of a school, day care center, park or school bus stop. Under the county ordinance, that ban was now extended to 2,500 feet, driving many into homelessness or isolation in the county’s rural stretches.
Eight years later, county commissioners are looking to undo this counterproductive measure, at a time when court decisions around the country are highlighting the flaws of overly restrictive bans on sex offenders. Palm Beach County cities with similar restrictions should bring them in line with the state’s 1,000-foot standard as well.
Commissioners gave preliminary approval to the repeal last week, heeding the advice of the county’s attorney. As The Post’s Jennifer Sorentrue reported, the county’s prohibition had been challenged by William Mattern, a 63-year-old homeless sex offender, who claimed that the restriction unconstitutionally discriminated against him and the county’s other 1,015 registered sex offenders.
Because of the restriction, Mattern, who was convicted 35 years ago of raping a woman, claimed he ended up on the streets, where he said he was beaten and robbed.
The county’s move to clamp down on where sex offenders live was part of an emotionally charged movement across the country after the 2005 rape and murder of 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford by a convicted sex offender in Citrus County.
The supposed purpose of these restrictions is to keep communities safer. Yet these rules are ineffective and often the cause of more harm than good. Criminals further marginalized by society too often face a higher risk of repeat criminal behavior.
Mattern’s is hardly the only story of sex offenders pushed into desperation by overly restrictive residency laws. In 2008, a Lake Worth pastor said he had to locate an apartment complex for sex offenders in a rural stretch of Pahokee because it was the only place in the county he could find where they could legally reside. In Miami-Dade County, similar restrictions in 2009 left dozens of sex offenders living under a bridge on Biscayne Bay.
While some sex offenders pose a real risk to children they don’t know, most have no history of preying on strange youths. Instead, many were arrested for possessing child pornography or having sexual contact with an underage relative. These are gruesome acts, but they are not the sorts of attacks that residential restrictions would prevent.
Sex offenders also are far less likely than typical criminals to be re-arrested for the same crime. A 2012 Lynn University study found that less than 14 percent of Florida’s sex offenders commit another sex crime within 10 years of their arrest, far below the recidivism rates for prisoners nationwide.
This is still too high, but it shows that most sex offenders can be rehabilitated. The best way to do this is through prudent monitoring and regular access to therapy and other services, not by pushing them to society’s fringes.
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