What the hell is it with Florida??

[TexasAggie]

Another missing girl turns up dead in the state...Do judges relocate sex offenders to Florida or something?

[deballedtomcat]

no,they just mollycoddle the bastards and turn 'em loose so they can do the same goddamm thing again.when will they learn that there is no way to rehabiliatate child molesters,and just go ahead and do society a favor and kill them???

[Johan]

I agree, deballedtomcat. What do they think when they let sex offenders out? "Hmmm... let's let him go. I bet $20 that he'll be back in jail within a year." And quite often, that's right.

What I think they should really do:
1. Get a list of all the sex offenders in Florida (or any other state) who got out of jail.
2. Get the percentage of those people who were back in jail after yet another sex crime.
3. Revise some laws.

I haven't done any research on this, but I'd expect the % on #2 to be quite high.

[JX252]

I live in Florida, and I tell ya, I'm getting more and more sick of hearing about these kind of things going on. I feel so sorry for the families of the victims because of course it's unfair, but it's also sick. These people have an illness, and they're obviously not getting the right treatment. I read an article online earlier yesterday that said the state is considering putting an I.D. tag in these sex offenders so that they can keep tabs on them once they're out of prison. I'm personally all for it, anything to keep these creeps away from innocent kids. But now of course there's always the few people out there that try to make things hard; they're saying that putting ID tags on sex offenders is imposing on their constitutional rights, which it is in a way. While I'd prefer the state not to violate constitutional rights, I think it's a measure that would benefit everyone here.

[Sparky_07]

Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53043-2005Apr14.html)

Well, there was a recent effort to rally up and arrest lots of fugitives and violent criminals. I applaud the effort and feel the same disgust for sex offenders that you are mentioning.

I have serious feelings on the sex offender subject. I feel like it is an epidemic, personally, but maybe it has always been this way.

[TexasAggie]

Florida is a state known for its old people too...kinda ironic. Just a pointless observation.

[deballedtomcat]

These people have an illness, and they're obviously not getting the right treatment.

herein is where I have a problem with the whole deal.and I'm not trying in any way to disrespect or flame jx252 for posting it,but these people do not have an "illness",they are predators out there stalking and killing defenseless children.

they cannot and will not change their ways,and there is no rehabilitating them.there is no "treatment" that makes these people stop victimizing others.it seems like a harsh statement,especially to folks who try to be sympathetic to others,but it is the truth.how many more innocent children have to become victims of repeat offenders before people realize that??

[TallnTexas]

The Lunde, Lundsford, and the 7 year old little girl who was also kidnapped and murdered in florida, all wew murdered by CONVICTED sex offenders, so now they are repeat offenders. A Bullet to the back of the head is treatment enough to me. I have 2 daughters, and I do not feel safe in my own home anymore. There is no bus service in my sub division, My house is 1.2 miles from the school so they say I am to close, my youngest daughter is in the 4th grade, and even though I have taught her to stay away from stangers, She is to small to fight off an attacker. I did a search on sex offenders in this area, there are 5...2 of them are reoffenders, and 1 lives directly behind me on the next street. What are we to do as parents.... I have heard people say castrate them, that did not stop this last sex offender from strangling the Lunde girl.
I am affraid to let my daughter out to ride her bike anymore, or go outside and play in the yard. My 16 year old, I am affraid to let her go to the mall or the movies. We are not safe anywhere anymore, even in the 1 place, where all our lives we were taught you are safe. Our homes.

[JX252]

herein is where I have a problem with the whole deal.and I'm not trying in any way to disrespect or flame jx252 for posting it,but these people do not have an "illness",they are predators out there stalking and killing defenseless children.

they cannot and will not change their ways,and there is no rehabilitating them.there is no "treatment" that makes these people stop victimizing others.it seems like a harsh statement,especially to folks who try to be sympathetic to others,but it is the truth.how many more innocent children have to become victims of repeat offenders before people realize that??


Link to article (http://www.defending-you.com/Pages/child_molestation.htm)

Individuals who have committed an act or acts of child molestation usually are not "criminals" in the classic sense. Many times they are productive members of society who have never been charged with any crime other than a crime or crimes relating to child abuse. There is a substantial body of medical knowledge suggesting that those who commit acts of child molestation are suffering from a form of mental illness. For this reason, there are some mental health professionals who feel that mental health treatment is a more appropriate and productive way to of responding to the problem of child molestation than long years of incarceration in prison.

I realize where you're coming from on the whole matter, but the fact remains that their obsession with molestation is due to some illness. Normal people do not simply go out and kill children for no reason at all. Their rational thought processes simply tell them that this is not the right thing to do, whereas child molestors more often than not are suffering from something that prohibits them from making clear, rational decisions. They don't think that sexually abusing a child is wrong, and they go ahead with their crimes.The fact is, you can treat them. Granted it might not be effective on most individuals, but there is help they can receive. Simply stating that there is no way to treat them makes you ignorant to the fact that they can be rehabilitated. Most of the time though, it's easier for the courts to give them probation and send them on their way. It saves courts time and money that would have to be spent on rehab programs and whatnot. These people can be treated, but the entire system is screwed up.

[Sparky_07]

My understanding is that there is only a 10 percent chance for successful treatment. Not a high target for the government to throw money at. I personally think there should be a much better system for sentencing. The recidivism rate is EXTREMELY high. I personally don't want to be the victim of some rapists relapse, I don't care how many people want to rehabilitate him and throw him back into society. If you abuse society in such a violent way, you should not be allowed to be a part of it. How can they let violent rapists and child molesters back on the street? I am disgusted by it.

[TallnTexas]

A Re-offender...just the name alone tells you something. I am sorry I do not agree with the fact they can be rehabilitated. And I am not going to use my daughters as guinea pigs. I will not welcome them with open arms or feel sorry for them. All 3 girls i listed above in florida were murdered by RE-offenders

[droogsteve]

I realize where you're coming from on the whole matter, but the fact remains that their obsession with molestation is due to some illness. Normal people do not simply go out and kill children for no reason at all. Their rational thought processes simply tell them that this is not the right thing to do, whereas child molestors more often than not are suffering from something that prohibits them from making clear, rational decisions. They don't think that sexually abusing a child is wrong, and they go ahead with their crimes.The fact is, you can treat them. Granted it might not be effective on most individuals, but there is help they can receive. Simply stating that there is no way to treat them makes you ignorant to the fact that they can be rehabilitated. Most of the time though, it's easier for the courts to give them probation and send them on their way. It saves courts time and money that would have to be spent on rehab programs and whatnot. These people can be treated, but the entire system is screwed up.


I'm sorry, I don't buy that nonsense. While I agree that they may not be able to help WANTING to commit these crimes, they sure as hell can help acting on them. Pedophiles aren't jailed for their urges, only for their acts. I'm sure there are many pedophiles who have the same urges who don't take the final step and act on those urges. The ones that do act on them simply lack self control. And that is a character flaw, not an illness. It's no different than a heterosexual man forcing himself on a woman he wants to sleep with but who won't consent. There may be 1000 men that want to sleep with that woman. 999 accept the fact that they can't. The one who does not is not ill, he is an animal with no self control. Same with pedophiles.


The fact that they may not believe that it's wrong is irrelevant. Under the M'Naughton standard, if they understand that it's against the law, it negates any claim of mental illness as a defense. In other words, if they kill a child because the voices in their head tell them that it's a demon sent to take them to hell, and they honestly believe that's the case, then they are not guilty due to their mental illness. If they can grasp the fact that what they are doing is against the law, they are responsible for their actions, whether or not they agree that those actions are wrong. Some men may honestly believe it's a man's job to beat their wives when they misbehave, that doesn't make them any less responsible under the law, does it?

[MrHardy]

Sex offenders are not insane but they do have an illness. They fall under the category of personality disorders and have a 98% repeat rate. They aren't born with it and they know its wrong but do it anyways. And yes a personality disorder is an illness, mental illness that is, because it is not curable. There is no way or form to cure it. No drug, no therapy, no negitive reinforcent of any kind will work.

BTW theres more than one type of mental illness. The fact they know what they did was wrong means they can't plead insanity. It doesn't rule out a mental disorder all together for a majority of criminals have one.

EDIT: Texas is no better. If anyone here remebers the Astrel Adams kidnaping (I think thats her name). She was abducted during a soccer tournament in Plano and the police, to try and identify the suspect, aquired the camera footage of dozens of people at the tournament. When they reviewed them they found 14 convicted sex offenders attending the tournament. All of them had absolutely no reason to be there. Kind of scary we let this go on.

[Karly]

Thats nothing- last week in the daily news there was a story about an NYPD officer who was arrested for raping his 15 year old daughter over & over again for 5 years & then his 20 year old daughter came forward saying he had done the same to her. The judge released him with no bail, no bond- nothing. So I guess he's at home nice & comfy awaiting his court date. They didnt even release his name.

[bergshadow]

Sex offenders do re-offend, quite often, but not as often as thieves and drug addicts. It's just that the re-offense is so bad.

In my state we have indefinite commitment for those sex offenders deemed (somehow) to be most likely to seriously (lethally) re-offend. Not all fall into that category - teenagers who molest younger teenagers often go on to live normal lives, for example.

One key might be some changes in childraising that would reduce the number of offenders produced. There aren't many truly dangerous ones now, actually, and significant reduction would drop the general risk to near zero.

[mx6driven]

man Im tired of all the fuckin drama here in Florida. I love my state but there is just so damn fuckin problems happening here. I mean a fucken crazy bum shoots and kills a store manager by shooting his head many times then walks across the street into a Publix (a big grocery store we have here) and tell the people "I need help". The manager was a guy who has given to the community, donated to charaties, gave food the homeless, donated to the boys and girls club and many more. Guess who is the victim.... not the manager, but the Bum who murdered the manager for not getting the help he needed by the government. The story is that everyone in the area knew who the bum was cuz he was a crazy guy and no1 had done anything for him cuz they thought he was just a regular crazy mentally ill bum that would never hurt anyone.

Anyways I am tired of these girls being taken here by sex offender.. why do they come here? I mean we're a muthafuckin peninsula muthafucka! Man I think we need to change the whole Sex Offender thing cuz this word is just so fuckin small now.... "Sex Offender" Sorry I sexually offended... start calling these fucked Child Rapists... Child Murderers, not just fuckin Sex Offender cuz seems like the word sex offender goes from a freshman having sex and getting pregant by her college freshman boyfriend to priest having sex with little boys... the word covers small to big things... fuckin pricks

[gigatonblast]

I think all sex offenders should be given 2 options.

Chemical castration.
Suicide option.

They ruin there victims for life.

They should be ruined as well.

[Viceroy]

If America (and Florida) is anything like Britain then I have to say that all this talk about the risk of sex offenders is blown way out of proportion. You watch the American media and anyone would think that children are murdered by strange men all the time. The same thing happened a few summers ago here when two little girls were killed by a strange man and all of a sudden there was talk of putting computer chips into children so parents know where they are. Totally absurd.

The truth is that children are at far greater risk from their parents, or close family friends than they are from strange sex offenders. The vast majority of abuse comes from in the home.

And all this talk of making a national sex offender register so everyone can know where these people live is stupid. If people are gonna use such information to make a better decision about where to move house, for instance, I don't have a problem with it. But I think we all know how this information would be used in practice. It would enable mobs to go around to these peoples houses and harrass them. Whether they deserve to be punished like that isn't down to the average citizen. That's why you lot elect judges, to make those decisions for you. Don't like it? Elect someone else.

[Sparky_07]

If America (and Florida) is anything like Britain then I have to say that all this talk about the risk of sex offenders is blown way out of proportion. You watch the American media and anyone would think that children are murdered by strange men all the time. The same thing happened a few summers ago here when two little girls were killed by a strange man and all of a sudden there was talk of putting computer chips into children so parents know where they are. Totally absurd.

The truth is that children are at far greater risk from their parents, or close family friends than they are from strange sex offenders. The vast majority of abuse comes from in the home.

And all this talk of making a national sex offender register so everyone can know where these people live is stupid. If people are gonna use such information to make a better decision about where to move house, for instance, I don't have a problem with it. But I think we all know how this information would be used in practice. It would enable mobs to go around to these peoples houses and harrass them. Whether they deserve to be punished like that isn't down to the average citizen. That's why you lot elect judges, to make those decisions for you. Don't like it? Elect someone else.

They do have a sex offender registry in each state, to my knowledge, and I am personally glad. I can know where in my neighborhood they are. And as a matter of fact, kids are killed and abducted daily here. I know that 'sounds' like an exaggeration, but it is true. There is only attention brought to a small number of these crimes, mostly the murders, but the molestations and rapes happen a lot as do the murders. True that they are often by people they know and acquaintaces, or neighbors actually.

If you ever spend any amount of time in the criminal court system, you will see how common it really is. I spent a couple months interning in criminal court and was horrified at the number of these crimes that were going on in my own community. I never realized how bad it was until I got a glimpse of the legal process behind the ones that get caught, and how much money they throw at them. It is really unbelievable.

It is a bigger problem than I think people realize. I agree much of it starts in the home, but the people that are abused in the home often grow up to become abusers themselves and increase the numbers of missing, exploited and murdered children.

[MrHardy]

I think all sex offenders should be given 2 options.

Chemical castration.
Suicide option
Castration doesn't help. They're still as likely to reoffend. Its been tried before in other countries.
Sex offenders do re-offend, quite often, but not as often as thieves and drug addicts. It's just that the re-offense is so bad.
Actually psychosexuals are just as likely, if not more likely, to re-offend. Both psychosexuals and those with antisocial disorders fall under personality disorders and have a 98% repeat rate.

[JX252]

If America (and Florida) is anything like Britain then I have to say that all this talk about the risk of sex offenders is blown way out of proportion. You watch the American media and anyone would think that children are murdered by strange men all the time. The same thing happened a few summers ago here when two little girls were killed by a strange man and all of a sudden there was talk of putting computer chips into children so parents know where they are. Totally absurd.




It does happen all the time here. Every day lately I've turned on the news and I'm hearing about it all over the country. It's not blown out of proportion either; this is a big deal. Kids should not have to worry about being abducted while traveling to their friend's house, and parents should not have to worry that their child will be taken from them at a bus stop just down the road. It's out of hand, and the problem will just increase unless action is taken. And I know that it sounds ridiculous, but putting a tracking device on your child makes sense. Think about it, you could keep the chip in your child until they reach a set age, say 13 or 14 for example, and afterwards, it can be surgically removed once the parent feels they are old enough to deal with problems on their own. If by the age of 18, the chip is not removed, the child would have the option of removing it without the consent of his/her parents. This way the parent knows where their child is all the time, and the child will know that their parents won't always be watching over them 24/7 for the rest of their life. The only problem is that if you do implement the use of tracking devices, you have to ask yourself if it's infringing on constitutional rights...which in a way it is.

[TallnTexas]

Only a very very few of the child abductions and murders make it on the news. There was some controversy about that fact back several years ago when the little 5 year old girl in California was taken from outside her home where she was playing with a little friend. At that very time that search was going on, there as a little black girl in Orange Texas, who was kidnapped from INSIDE her home, sexually molested and dumped on the side of the road in Pt. Arthur. I am sure that this is happening all over the country and we just do not hear the staggering numbers.
It is horrifying to me as a parent to know that my children are not safe in my home much less outside playing in the yard. I do not for a second believe that the numbers are exagerated. In fact I believe they are not reported due to the simple fact that it may cause hysteria.
That has to be the hardest thing in the world to know that your baby is missing and then to have her or him found buried, submerged in some cold lake, or just plain thrown away like trash. As a mother I would probably end up in prison myself for killing the SOB that hurt my child..