Push to abolish sex offender registry picks up steam in Florida

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — There are tens of thousands of people on the sex offender registry in Florida right now, but there’s a growing movement from a group pushing to abolish the public list completely.

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Right now, you can check the public list to see who’s on it and why. They could be your co-workers, neighbors, or a person who comes by to service your home.

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“I made a poor judgement call,” a local sex offender told Action News Jax’s Robert Grant. “I put myself in a situation I should not have been in. I was not in the frame of mind I should’ve been in.”

The woman was a teacher at Nease High School and was convicted in 2015 of unlawful sexual activity with a minor. She was 28 years old at the time.

Read: INVESTIGATES: Homeless sex offenders become growing Florida problem

Unable to work with children again, now she’s a local bartender. But she said more importantly, she’s an aunt to her three nieces and nephews. They are the reason she asked to remain anonymous.

“If my face is tied to that with this story, it could impact them,” she explained.

She’s part of the Florida Action Committee, a statewide group lobbying to abolish the sex offender registry.

Their main concern is their claim that there’s more than 50 regulations sex offenders must follow, and they change from city to city.

“The registry has become a tool to punish people after they finish their sentence,” Chris Sparks, the group’s leader, said. The group argued the rules change too often. Right now, there’s a bill going through the state legislature sponsored by State Representative Jessica Baker of Jacksonville. The 82-page bill adds more regulations and punishments to violations.

“How do you stay compliant with a set of rules that aren’t even defined,” Sparks said.

Action News Jax went to the Clay County Sheriff’s Office to ask about the regulations.

Read: Jacksonville won’t require sex offenders to post ‘no candy’ signs outside home for Halloween

“These are very serious crimes these people have been convicted of,” Detective Ryan Ellis said. He’s an investigator of child sex trafficking. He said the rules for sex offenders are written out in black and white. “We provide them with detailed information during registration. They sign, initial and state that they understand. All that info is available online.”

Action News Jax sorted through the data and found there are 85,515 people on the Florida registry and one in four are sexual predators according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. There’s 2,238 in Duval, 414 in Clay, and 254 in St. Johns.

Right now, you can see who they are, where they live, why they were convicted, and even what car they drive, which is another issue for the Florida Action Committee. They don’t feel it’s necessary to register every car that sits in their driveway for more than four days.

Read: Former church youth pastor and nurse accused of molesting teens has died in custody, police say

Law enforcement feels different, and Detective Ellis said they need to know what cars sex offenders have access to. Case in point, Donald Smith was a sex offender living with his mother and used her car to kidnap, rape, and murder 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle in 2013.

“Just because a vehicle is not registered to them does not mean that an offender can’t utilize that vehicle,” Detective Ellis said.

“Statistics will show you the more you support someone to re-entry, the better they become as a person and that reduces recidivism,” Sparks said.

According to the Department of Justice, 24% are caught for re-offending after 15 years. That number goes up as the years go by and is higher for sexual predators.

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“Unfortunately, we do see time and time again that the predators do reoffend. Whether that be hands-on offenses re-victimizing children or engaging in online activity,” Detective Ellis said. “We do not want to ever see anyone reoffend against a child or innocent victim, but we do know that those things happen.”

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