Book: The Sex Offender Housing Dilemma: Community Activism, Safety, and Social Justice

by Monica Williams (Author) The controversy surrounding community responses to housing for sexually violent predators When a South Carolina couple killed a registered sex offender and his wife after they moved into their neighborhood in 2013, the story exposed an extreme and relatively rare instance of violence against sex offenders. While media accounts would have us believe that vigilantes across the country lie in wait for predators who move into their neighborhoods, responses to sex offenders more often involve collective campaigns that direct outrage toward political and criminal justice systems.…

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WI: Many On GPS Monitoring Are Homeless

[urbanmilwaukee.com 3/10/18] Michael walked out of the Oshkosh Correctional Institution in April 2017 at age 60 with $140 to his name, a record as a sex offender and a GPS monitoring bracelet strapped to his ankle. Michael, who requested that only his middle name be used to avoid public attention, was convicted of two child sex crimes, the most recent in 2006, for which he spent 10 years in prison. Upon release, he traveled to Vernon County, where he had committed his most recent sex crime, and stayed in a…

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FL: Jackson County Proposes 2500 feet Sex Offender Residency Restriction

[floridaactioncommittee.org] Jackson County, Florida is considering enacting a Sex Offender Residency Restriction (SORR). According to this article, the county currently has a 1000 foot ordinance, which they are looking to increase to 2500 feet. “Our whole goal is not to punish anyone, it’s just to make our community safer,” Jackson County Sheriff’s Office Sergeant Quinton Hollis said. In fact, studies have shown that residency restrictions DO NOT make the communities safer and may even increase recidivism by destabilizing former offenders. SORRs were just declared to be punitive in the City…

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