Community | January 15, 2010 | 14 comments

Not in My Neighborhood: Living with Miami's Sex Offenders - PILOT

thereisnochaos
When Miami increases its residency restrictions on registered sex offenders, unintended consequences result. Many offenders are forced into homelessness due to the lack of affordable and compliant housing, while others are funneled into the few places where they are legally allowed to reside. These new laws were enacted to protect the Miami community, but may be doing more harm than good. Is the culture and ideology behind such laws really what's best for our children?
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14 comments // Not in My Neighborhood: Living with Miami's Sex Offenders - PILOT // Video

  • artemis6
  • thereisnochaos
  • Linda_Wagner
    • 0
      Linda_Wagner  
    • Image

    • Now is the time for OBJECTIVITY!

      A MUST READ for Ron Book and his cronies.
      Ronnie always dismisses research with a wave of the hand because he knows that he has the populace "emotionalized" with fear and myths.

      Always remember, "emotions make for BAD laws and ORDINANCES, because, "EMOTION LACKS INTELLIGENCE!"

      "Sex-offender restrictions generate debate in Boulder County"

      http://tinyurl.com/ygkb8ac

    • 3 years ago
  • thereisnochaos
    • 0
      thereisnochaos  
    • Linda_Wagner:

      You and I both know that the populace has been pumped full of fear and lies since long before Ron Book was a factor. Go watch The Child Molester (1964) or Boys Beware (1961). The issues that we are discussing are the product of decades of misinformed educational programs and public policy that goes along with it.

      The problem is so much bigger than Mr. Book.

    • 3 years ago
  • justadadathome
    • 0
      justadadathome  

    • The SOMB is a legislatively created board administered by the Division of Criminal Justice, Colorado Department of Public Safety. The SOMB has been mandated to develop Standards for the treatment and supervision of sex offenders. The SOMB’s philosophy is to support research based community and victim safety policy development through a collaborative approach. As requested, a research study was conducted in 2004 in reference to the proximity of sex offender residences to schools and childcare centers and the related impact on community safety. This study utilized information on 130 sex offenders from the Denver metropolitan area in conjunction with plotting the subjects’ residences on maps.

      The findings of the research revealed that among sex offenders who reoffended, there were not a greater number of sex offenders living within proximity to schools and childcare centers than those who did not live in proximity locations. In addition, sex offenders who received positive support (i.e. family, friends, treatment, SLA’s, and employers who were aware of the sex offender’s issues and held the offender accountable in a supportive fashion) had significantly lower numbers of probation violations and reoffenses than those with no support or negative support (Colorado Department of Public Safety 2004). It should be noted that this finding has been supported by numerous other research studies related to residence restrictions and recidivism rates regarding the reintegration of sex offenders (Minnesota Department of Corrections 2003 & 2007; Ohio State University 2009; Levenson, Zandbergen, & Hart 2008).

      Read More Here
      http://wp.me/pKP2w-4z

    • 3 years ago
  • justadadathome
    • 0
      justadadathome  

    • What I am going to say, will probably sound soooo stupid.. or like a tangent... but here goes.

      No amount of laws will heal the sickness. If a person wants to rape or molest, they will.

      I offer a video I created which will outline the whole problem.

      I must warn you that it is very graphic. If you watch this video, you must be 18 years old.
      If you click PLAY, or what ever button it takes to start it, you are agreeing that you are over the age of 18 years old.

      Making laws to punish a person AFTER they rape, rob, molest, drunk drive, murder, or any other crime is like putting a band aide on someone who has just been decapitated.

      Let's go back to the root of the problem. It is the thinking which allows for one person to invade the personal space of another and do them harm.

      Where exactly do all these people get all these ideas for rape and molestation?

      Well, some would say they have been around since Adam and Eve.
      Some would say they are inbred over billions of years of natural selection.. that the core element of the desire is for sex, and promotion of the species... or some thing to that effect.

      But I would suggest that all the media saturation of Sex and Violence, and now the need for Sexual Violence on tv, theaters, internet, radio, print and in Game Consoles... all promoting the ENTERTAINMENT of sexual violence, violent sex .....has created the large numbers of people that think it entertaining to go out and molest and rape.

      Couple that with the complete removal of anything to do with the God of Christianity... which has a whole Book of what is morally acceptable and what is not... for the good of the SOCIETY... and what do you have.

      CHAOS....

      Add to that pool a bunch of money hungry, power hungry lawmakers and politicians, police and movie producers and what do you get?

      A nation full of rapists and murderers.. corrupt politicians... the list is too long to go on without boring you to death....

      No, these laws protect NO Body... to change the crime statistics, you have to change the way people think....

      This country, America... I am ashamed to be called an American... so corrupt, so evil....

      I was born here, I can say that.... and to any person who wants to say, if it is so bad, leave it...

      Get a life. Wake up. This country is finished. Greed has killed it.

      www.cfcamerica.org

    • 3 years ago
  • TopographicalMayhem
    • 0
      TopographicalMayhem  

    • @VoyagerFilms: These people are dirt poor. Who is going to pay for their therapeutic treatment? I sure as hell don't want to via skyrocketing health insurance costs. When one person's bill goes up, we all pay. Fuck that.

      Ron Book: Instead of increasing the distance restriction, why don't you just not hire them as a nanny? Your problem was that she was living IN your house, not within 2500 feet of it.

      @justadadathome: You've got your head on straight. I like the way you think.

    • 3 years ago
  • thereisnochaos
    • 0
      thereisnochaos  
    • TopographicalMayhem:

      It is true that the residency restriction would not have prevented Lauren Book's abuse. The residency restriction was one of several child sexual abuse laws that Ron Book was influential in pushing. I believe the first law he worked on was one that dealt with HIV testing of convicted offenders and predators.

      The pro-residency restriction argument acknowledges that most offenses will not be prevented by residency restrictions, but that the residency restriction is necessary in order to prevent that small percentage of cases that do happen in this way. As you can see in the film, there are external effects of residency restrictions which bring their usefulness into question.

      My personal opinion is that residency restrictions are a simple solution to a complex problem.

    • 3 years ago
  • justadadathome
    • 0
      justadadathome  

    • I would have to ask after viewing this video, what about having a registry for financial swindlers? That way you could know if Convicted Criminals like Ron Book moved into your neighborhood. http://bit.ly/4xt52h

      This video plays on the emotions of the citizens. This video dehumanizes United States Citizens into things, Changing the People who are forced to live under a bridge, into Sex Offenders who live under a bridge. These are EX Sex Offenders.. Just like Ron Book who is an ex criminal who was caught up in money schemes.. and now handling the money for a Trust Company who's sole purpose for existing is to HELP HOMELESS PEOPLE.
      How Ironic, a person caught in criminal dealings with MONEY, In Charge of Other People's Money!

      I agree, anyone who molests a child, or rapes someone needs to feel the heat of the law. But also, I would say every living person needs to be dealt with justly. The courts have seen fit to release these PEOPLE, Just like they did Ron Book, and now society needs to allow them to GET A LIFE.

      When ever you hear the term Sex Offender it does not mean baby raper. It can be a teen having sex with a teen. It can be so small a thing as getting caught pissing behind a tree while drunk.

      Ron book is playing on your emotions here. Crocodile tears. Convicted Criminal, but Rich so he presents as Squeaky Clean. I wonder why they did not use Mark Foley, or Mark Lunsford for this video. Mark Lunsford got caught with Child Porn, now fights for Sex Offender Laws... Mark Foley got caught with Sexting Messages with a Young Boy under his power of office. Never a day in jail.

      These laws are protecting no one. If the courts are not going to keep these people locked up for LIFE, then they need to get rid of all the laws that are keeping these people from getting a job and a decent place to live.

      Citizens for Change, America, www.cfcamerica.org

    • 3 years ago
  • thereisnochaos
    • 0
      thereisnochaos  
    • justadadathome:

      Let it be known that this is only the pilot of a film which is going to be significantly more detailed. We are trying to secure funding so that we can make more trips to Miami, And there is also the possibility of covering a similar situation in San Francisco.

      Also, If you are looking for a more detailed portrait of the residents of the causeway, I suggest you watch Nick Ahlmark's "Monsters of Miami", which really gives a great depiction of what it is like living under the bridge. With our film, we were kind of aiming to take up where "Monsters of Miami" left off.

    • 3 years ago
  • good_stuff
  • VoyagerFilms
  • VoyagerFilms
    • 0
      VoyagerFilms  

    • This is a tough situation for society and those accused both. We need to understand the offenders psychological issues and provide therapeutic treatment. By doing so, we can learn to prevent the development of this type of psychological problem thereby reduce the rate of incidence (sparing children the emotional / psychological damage) as opposed to the method of operation we use now, that is wait for it to happen, then treat the symptom rather than the cause.

      There is the belief these types of offenders are untreatable, but is it simply the lack of understanding and competence on the part of those making those claims?

      The emotional response for many would be to burn the perps in hell and be done with them. Clearly, this can't be done in our civilized society and would most certainly be another form of violation / victimization of our society's psyche.

      We need to look at this from a less emotional point of view and discard the limitations ignorance has placed on it. This is applicable to all forms of pathological behavior. If we do, maybe we can do more and better than simply housing people with problems at the expense of society and society will be better for it.

    • 3 years ago
  • thereisnochaos
    • 0
      thereisnochaos  
    • VoyagerFilms:

      Well said. I think it's important for the general public to realize that every single case is different and there are different circumstances surrounding everyone's situation. Society has created these vague labelings which, in my opinion, distracts the public from what the real issues are and further dehumanizes those who have been convicted of such crimes.

      As it stands, the laws are so vague that there are people who have the capacity to successfully reintegrate back into society, but are unable to do so because they have been lumped together with people who pose a larger risk.

    • 3 years ago

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