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Christopher 10/27/2008 1:33:00 PM
Although I have not completely read your article understand that just because a probation officer tells an ex offender to be at a certain location between the hours of 10pm to 6am does not mean that the offender resides there. Further, because the parking lot of the Court house or under the Tuttle for that matter can not be considered a legal residency by any stretch of the imagination, the ex offenders "Hang out there" are in no way violating any state, County or City Ordinance.
Residency restrictions do not restrict the sex offender from sitting on a bench in or near the very playground which serves to restrict his residency. That same offender can operate his car and �cruise� the area around the very daycare which serves to restrict his residency. He can return to the family home from which he was forced to move, on a daily basis if he so chooses, provided he does not sleep there, and peer out the window in deviant lust at the toddlers frolicking on the playground. While doing so, provided he can conceal his act of self gratification from public view, he can even masturbate. He can do all these things legally, without offending the residency restrictions.
Unbelievably,residency restrictions do not even prevent a sex offender from taking up or resuming residency with the victim of his prior lascivious conduct, such as a teenage stepdaughter, so long as the home is located outside of the prohibited zone.
If what we seek is to protect children from sex offenders, how do we accomplish that aim by imposing a 2500-foot
residency restriction around schools, playgrounds, daycare facilities and the like? If the offender is still permitted to visit and linger in such areas for protracted periods, so long as he does not sleep there, what actual protection have we provided our children?
In truth, residency restrictions appear to be little more than a political placebo, offering false comfort to pacify the public�s fear of sex offenders.
Martin J. Sheehan
Kenton District Judge
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Christopher 10/27/2008 1:21:00 PM
Although I must admit that i have not read your whole articule, understand that sex offenders that are told to be at a certain location between the hours of 10pm and 6am does not in its self mean they live there. In fact because the parking lot of the Court house or the tuttle are not considered legal residencies by any stretch of the imagination these offenders are not in violation of any State, County or City ordinance.
"Residency restrictions do not restrict the sex offender from sitting on a bench in or near the very playground which serves to restrict his residency. That same offender can operate his car and �cruise� the area around the very daycare which serves to restrict his residency. He can return to the family home from which he was forced to move, on a daily basis if he so chooses, provided he does not sleep there, and peer out the window in deviant lust at the toddlers frolicking on the playground. While doing so, provided he can conceal his act of self gratification from public view, he can even masturbate. He can do all these things legally, without offending the residency restrictions.
Unbelievably, residency restrictions do not even prevent a sex offender from taking up or resuming
residency with the victim of his prior lascivious conduct, such as a teenage stepdaughter, so long as the home is located outside of the prohibited zone. If what we seek is to protect children from sex offenders, how do we accomplish that aim by imposing a 2500-foot residency restriction around schools, playgrounds, daycare facilities and the like? If the offender is still permitted to visit and linger in such areas for protracted periods, so long
as he does not sleep there, what actual protection have we provided our children? In truth, residency restrictions appear to be little more than a political placebo, offering false comfort to pacify the public�s fear of sex offenders"
Martin J. Sheehan
Kenton District Judge
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richard clark 01/24/2008 7:47:00 PM
i am the one that you talked to in front of the miami rescue mission. you asked about the green shirts the ones that are suppose to help us homeless. and i have not heared from you sence.
the main problem with the green shirts is that they come from the court. when the judge says program or prison. they were not infront of them for being responcibe. and they are NOT taught responcibility at all. so they can only abuse the authority they are given. (like retailiation and favortism etc just like the program people in the missions.)
i am still interested in telling you what it is, for i am NOT an inabler to the missions like alot of the people here.
awaiting email richard clark
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Gabriel Karophilovich 11/21/2007 5:32:00 PM
Great reporting, especially the line "The rate of recidivism among sex offenders is high", you make it appear it's a fact by stating it matter-of-factly. That type of propoganda is preciesley what this country needs. Why bother checking facts (like the the completely useless fact that as a group sex offenders have the LOWEST recidivism rates among all types of crime and the fact that the lower tiered, the lesser crimes, have an almost non existent return rate.)
So good work, we need more reporting that that says 'to hell with the facts, to hell with study after studt, to hell with checking sources, I'm going to report what I THINK I KNOW and then it will become fact"
It was a great article until I hit that line. You should be fired for putting an unresearched, ignorant social opinion in there.
Idiot
Gab
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Sam 04/13/2007 4:45:00 AM
"They treat us like animals," Sanchez says, "putting us down here. It's not right, it's not just."
I think anyone who sexually rapes & penetrates a child IS AN ANIMAL.
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Leon Dekelbaum 04/07/2007 4:01:00 PM
Look,
It's easy to say, "good, let them suffer the rest of their lives"" which they will. But you are setting up a system for failure. You can argue they should pay for the rest of their lives, but at least from a practical standpoint, if you drive these men to the point of utter desperation with no hope, they have nothing left to lose. If freedom is worse than jail, then the punishment of jail has no value. And this isn't biblical times anyway, people do have a right to atone for their sins, serve their time and have some sort of a semblance of a life. People do bad things, but they deserve a second chance to prove themselves. If you not only deprive them of any sort of rehabilitation program but also any chance to work, live, even have electricity, what is their incentive not to recind. You need to make staying out of prison remotely appealing. Stop this eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth bs. We don't live in biblical times.This is a really miserable way to deal with a problem, lynch mob mentality, drive the undesirables underground with illogical legislation. Social problems require well thought out solutions.
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Amy Lea 04/07/2007 4:00:00 AM
Far better than they deserve for their crimes. These rapists and predators get to live while their young victims must struggle every day with what happened to them. May the alligators get these criminals and do to them what our laws refuse to. I applaud whoever thought up the idea of making them live without comforts of law-abiding citizens. And those that find these rapists living under a bridge disgraceful? Your opinion would change if it was *your* young child who was raped.
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Amy 04/07/2007 3:59:00 AM
Far better than they deserve for their crimes. These rapists and predators get to live while their young victims must struggle every day with what happened to them. May the alligators get these criminals and do to them what our laws refuse to. I applaud whoever thought up the idea of making them live without comforts of law-abiding citizens. And those that find these rapists living under a bridge disgraceful? Your opinion would change if it was *your* young child who was raped.
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Amy 04/07/2007 3:58:00 AM
Far better than they deserve for their crimes. These rapists and predators get to live while their young victims must struggle every day with what happened to them. May the alligators get these criminals and do to them what our laws refuse to. I applaud whoever thought up the idea of making them live without comforts of law-abiding citizens. And those that find these rapists living under a bridge disgraceful? Your opinion would change if it was *your* young child who was raped.
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Miami Resident 04/06/2007 4:00:00 AM
What an embarrassment to Miami
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Sara 03/14/2007 8:55:00 PM
This is a fantastic article on a very troubling issue. I would like to see some follow up in a few months. Specifically--where can sex offenders live in Miami-Dade?
Telling sex offenders where not to live without giving them options of where to live essentially encourages them to literally get lost. Once out of the supervisin of the criminal justice system, offenders are left to their own devices and instincts. Considering that their instincts have proven problematic in the past, it's obvious that the system is setting up these individuals to fail.
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rukidding 03/09/2007 10:22:00 AM
This is nothing short of horrifying from humanitarian, correctional, and public safety perspectives. These are not people who easily garner our sympathy - they have sexually abused children and deserved jail time. Many people would say that they are getting what they deserve. However, public safety is not served when offenders have nothing to lose. Why not give in to those pesky thoughts of sick sexual gratification? Given their sex offender status, they are unable to find jobs, and state and local residency restrictions make it impossible for them to secure even temporary shelter housing. They are receiving no treatment or other services to reintegrate them into the community. We give them nothing and make it impossible for them to function. All research shows that all offenders do much better when they have stable jobs, housing, and support. These men have been deprived of all of that.
Yes, sex offenders deserve punishment appropriate to their crimes. Once they are released, they need opportunities to succeed - not setups for failure. Remember that their failure could be a new sex offense. Why not? They have nothing left to lose.
