Source: Florida Action Committee
To: The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Office of the United Nations, Complaint Procedure Unit, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Petition to Declare Public Sex Offender Registration in the United States a Violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
The Florida Action Committee, Inc. (FAC) is a 2,500+ member non-profit public safety organization that advocates for the rights of all persons. Included in our membership are people forced to register as sexual offenders in the United States.
Today, approximately one-million people in the United States are forced to register as “sex offenders”. It is a debilitating label that elicits a very negative social reaction and causes extreme harm to the person wearing the label and anyone associated with them.
In Florida, all persons forced to register are required to do so for life, and all are broadcast on a State sanctioned, publicly accessible and Google indexed website along with their name, picture, address, and other identifying information. They remain on the public registry even if they move out of the state, move out of the country, or die. Two-thirds of the people on Florida’s sex offender registry do not even live in Florida communities!
The publicly broadcast label leads to stigmatization, separation from society, loss of employment, loss of housing and even exposure to violence at the hands of vigilantes. The stigmatization extends to the spouses, children, family, friends, employer and anyone that associates with the registrant. The isolation, shame, stress, fear of violence, loss of income and other psychological effects are experienced by the entire household.
It would be one thing if the registry was effective at reducing sexual offenses, but it is not. A meta-study analyzing more than 25 years of research found that the registry does not reduce sexual or non-sexual recidivism at all (Zgoba, K.M., Mitchell, M.M. The effectiveness of Sex Offender Registration and Notification: A meta-analysis of 25 years of findings. J Exp Criminol (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-021-09480-z
The United Nations expressly prohibits cruel or degrading treatment or punishment. The prohibition can be found, among other places, in Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The act of placing human beings on a public shaming list for life, when that list has been repeatedly proven through empirical research to be ineffective at reducing sexual offending, is grievously cruel and degrading.
We respectfully request The High Commissioner of Human Rights to investigate this practice and take appropriate action.
Click here to sign the petition on Change.org
Un f’ing believable.. This petition has been going around since Nov 1st of 2022 and doesn’t even have 6,000 signatures. I’m angry at this. Every single person on thw cursed registry and all their family members should have blown the lid off this thing! I’m at a total loss for words.
If we take it from the database perspective rather than the violent man perspective it does rise to the level of a human rights issue. When it comes to security and sovereignty the DDI may very well be the greater threat.
I signed it months ago and about 15 of my family and friends. So let’s go people!! This should definitely be promoted on every site that is fighting for our cause to get as many supporters as possible ASAP! I can’t believe with as much bitching everyone does about the registry and it’s not even to 10000 let alone 100000 which would open some eyes on this issue
Signed. Forwarding in emails to others as well. Please do the same.
I also sent the link to Adele Nicholas and Mark Weinberg and asked if they can circulate among the IL Voices and NARSOL email groups. If anyone has other group or attorney contacts, please send to them.
I will sign this as I believe in what is trying to be accomplished, but the UN is a joke of an organization in whole. To what extent will a largely signed petition have with them that they can use to put pressure on the country which hosts their HQ?
I signed. The right to change yourself and reestablish connections with your community is a basic human right. We are now in a dark age where reification of people turns us into objects defined by our worst actions. It is a shame that other marginalized groups can’t see past the sex offender label here and sign this petition also to keep complex human beings from being treated as static objects and so manipulated by those in power for economic and political gain.
My wife and I signed this petition and sent it to everyone we know, but this is the first time I have even heard of this petition. Perhaps instead of getting angry so few signed it perhaps it should have been circulated more. Its downrated in the change.org in that its unlikely you will see or find it unless someone who signed it sent to to you. Several are listed as having shared it on twitter, which I am fairly active on, but have never seen it.
The registry is a harmful concept and an unnecessary evil. It promotes hate and division, not safety or prevention.