Senate: Make Florida “Scorched Earth” For Violent Sex Offenders

December 18, 2013

Florida senators Tuesday filed a package of bills that Senate President Don Gaetz said would make the state “scorched earth” for sexually violent predators and become a centerpiece of the 2014 legislative session. One of the bills was filed by Sen. Greg Evers, who represents the local area.

His language echoed lawmakers’ outrage after the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported in August that nearly 600 sexual predators had been released only to be convicted of new sex offenses — including more than 460 child molestations, 121 rapes and 14 murders.

“Over the last several months, we watched in disbelief and disgust as news accounts detailed stories of sexually violent predators slipping through the cracks of our criminal justice and civil commitment system and committing unthinkable repeat offenses against Florida’s most vulnerable children,” Gaetz, R-Niceville, wrote to senators as the four bills were filed.

The bills would “widen the net” to apprehend, punish and monitor sexually violent predators, in the words of Sen. Denise Grimsley, one of the Senate committee leaders from both parties sponsoring the measures.

“It really is a bipartisan effort,” said Duval County Sheriff John Rutherford, whose jurisdiction was rocked in June by the high-profile murder of eight-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle.

And by all accounts, the Senate and House are speeding toward a comprehensive effort in both chambers.

“If we have the strongest laws in place in the country to identify the worst of the worst, I think we can reduce the number of these offenses,” said House Criminal Justice Chairman Matt Gaetz, a Fort Walton Beach Republican who is the son of the Senate president. “And most importantly, we won’t have to go and say to the parents of a child victim that we had the person in our custody, but we let them go and they harmed again.”

The measures follow a series of legislative hearings after the Sun Sentinel reported that the commitment of sexually violent predators under the state’s Jimmy Ryce Act had slowed to a crawl.

By the terms of the Jimmy Ryce Act — named for a 9-year-old Miami-Dade County boy who was raped and murdered in 1995 — the Department of Children and Families evaluates sex offenders before their releases from prison. Those considered most likely to attack again aren’t necessarily released after completing their prison sentences, but may be screened, evaluated and confined at the Florida Civil Commitment Center in Arcadia until they aren’t considered dangers to the community.

Lawmakers heard from an array of experts that those precautions weren’t enough.

“We have said for many years that leopards don’t change their spots and tigers don’t change their stripes,” said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, president of the Florida Sheriffs Association. “These sexual predators — these deviants — will continue to offend and target our children whenever they’re not incarcerated.”

For instance, Rutherford told lawmakers his officers had spoken with Donald Smith — now charged with kidnapping, raping and strangling Perrywinkle — on the very day of her murder. Smith was released from jail as a sex offender 21 days before Perrywinkle’s death.

One of the bills, by a Jacksonville-area lawmaker, would close several of the loopholes in that case.

SB 526 by Sen. Rob Bradley, a Fleming Island Republican and chairman of the Senate Civil and Criminal Justice Appropriations Subcommittee, would increase the length of sentences for certain adult-on-minor sexual offenses formerly classified as lewd and lascivious. It would ban gain-time for people who commit certain sexual offenses and require courts to order community supervision after release from prison for those convicted of certain offenses.

Rutherford pointed to another portion of Bradley’s bill, which deals with the post-release supervision of sexual predators in DCF custody as part of the civil commitment process. Currently, those offenders participate in civil commitment and community supervision simultaneously. But the bill would require them to be under community supervision after their release from civil commitment.

“When they get out under supervision, that actually allows us more oversight of this individual’s life when they first get out because they’re still under probation at that time,” Rutherford said. “Now, they may do all of their probation time under civil commitment where they’re not in the community being tempted. And when they get out, their community supervision has already expired, and so there’s no community oversight during the most vulnerable time for them to re-offend, which is when they first get out.”

The other measures include:

— SB 528 by Sen. Greg Evers, a Baker Republican and chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. It would require registered sexual predators to report their vehicle information, Internet identifiers, palm prints, passports, professional licenses, immigration status and volunteer work at higher-education institutions.

Rutherford pointed out that Smith didn’t own a vehicle, but had access to his mother’s van, “which he used in the commission of that heinous crime,” but Evers’ bill would close that loophole as well.

— SB 522 by Grimsley, a Sebring Republican and chairwoman of the Senate Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee. It would require sheriffs to refer prisoners serving sentences in county jails for civil commitment if they are registered sexual offenders or predators and have committed sexually violent offenses. It also would add a state attorney, law enforcement officer and victim’s advocate as advisory members to the multidisciplinary team that evaluates offenders considered for civil confinement.

“Her bill is going to allow us to be part of that decision-making process,” Rutherford said.

— SB 524 by Sen. Eleanor Sobel, a Hollywood Democrat and chairwoman of the Senate Children, Families and Elder Affairs Committee. It would require that offenders be defined as sexually violent predators and be subject to civil confinement after a finding by two or more members of a multidisciplinary team. It would require higher-education institutions to tell students about a sexual predator’s presence on campus.

by Margie Menzel, The News Service of Florida

Comments

12 Responses to “Senate: Make Florida “Scorched Earth” For Violent Sex Offenders”

  1. Melanie on April 25th, 2020 9:59 pm

    I thank Almighty God for Lauren Book and her father, who have fought with courage to keep sexual offenders from reoffending. The people who oppose these efforts have obviously never been victimized as innocent and helpless children. If they had been, they would do everything in their power to suppress these people who feel so entitled to full priveledges as upstanding citizens of this country. I wish I lived in a state like Florida where people took these hideous, pernicious crimes seriously.

  2. kris on December 30th, 2013 8:39 am

    The term “SEX OFFENDER” could include people peeing in the bushes, and non-sexual crimes such as Fitzroy Barnaby, who briefly grabbed a teenagers arm to chastise her for playing in the middle of street.

    If Fitzroy, had ran over the teenager with his car rather than stop the brakes, he would not been branded as a “SEX OFFENDER” and be tracked as a level 3 , serious “sex offender” and be subject to tracking by the US marshalls, although I have no idea if he still has to register.

    Now tell me , would you be more concerned about a criminal selling drugs to your child or a robber or burglar or someone who violently beats up people, or someone peeing in the bushes, the florida state legislature knows that the word SEX is association with a taboo, so a “SEX OFFENDER” generates attention, but not other violent criminals.

    Of course if your teenage child takes a picture of himself or herself, they could be charged as a “Sex offender”, recent florida courts have held this to be true.

    However, if someone is a violent criminal who beats you with a baseball bat, they won’t have to register at all , despite being a “possible threat to society”,

    Heck, even terrorists don’t have to register, only folks the legislature “defines as SEX OFFENDERS, danger, alert”.

  3. curious on December 20th, 2013 6:41 am

    Mother of three, it isn’t up to that girl that presses charges, that’s the parents, but first of all everybody should be teaching their kids ways on not being put in that situation, like go to movies with other couples, now if you would only stand back & tell Jr. that’s what he deserved, I applaud you for that, but no that’s not what some parents do, they take up for theirs, by saying that’s my boy, that’s why parents go press charges instead of having charges pressed on them for beating the crap outta them, for the parents to say, well, did you have to whip him that hard, so the others hurt their own for sticking up for them, like, well, it was that girl, I’m sorry lady, but some parents don’t teach their kids to respect themselves much less somebody else, if it were mine, I’d love to beat the stuffing outta a boy, then if I knew for a fact, it wasn’t a true rape, give my girl a whipping, she wouldn’t ever forget, but a 15 yr. old girl doesn’t have the permission to give her body away, & boys are stronger, so they cant say, it’s her fault, they can walk away, but you can bet your rearend,what might happen to him if he gets caught sneaking in/out my house.

  4. mother of three on December 19th, 2013 9:21 am

    I agree with everyone that says sexual offenders be put away for life or just put to death. But I also believe that the sex offender laws should be changed alittle bit too. Grown men and women hurting children yes they should be punished fully but these young guys 17, 18, & 19 years old that having sex with a girl 14, 15 & 16 years old ( that knew what they what they were doing) I dont think they should have to suffer for the rest of thier lives while the girl gets off scott free because she cryed raped so she wouldnt get in trouble with her parents. If the girl is old enough and capable of making that choice to have sex then those boys should not have to suffer for the rest of thier life. I have a daughter as well as two sons and I would much rather see my son gets his a$$ beat by a girls father/mother than have his name put up all over town for the rest of his life. If that girl was NOT forced to do something she didnt want to do.

  5. gigi on December 19th, 2013 5:57 am

    Why don’t they offer the option of medical castration in exchange for sentencing time reduction (circumstances to be considered of course). Unless I’m missing something here, a man won’t be able, or even driven, to commit these acts if this is done.

  6. Devastating Dave on December 18th, 2013 11:35 am

    Death penalty sounds right to me.

    As for politicians….life sentence with no chance of parole with hard labor.

  7. paul on December 18th, 2013 10:26 am

    The type of person who goes to this level of a crime can’t be rehabbed…I’m all for the death penalty for them.. Now if we could treat crooked politicians the same way we might be onto something :)

  8. E on December 18th, 2013 8:20 am

    I’m with you Ms. Carolyn.

  9. Lucy on December 18th, 2013 8:16 am

    429SCJ: My thoughts exactly!!!!

  10. 429SCJ on December 18th, 2013 7:04 am

    If sexual offenses can be classified as a disease then law makers could work to quarantine the infected or affected individuals under public health laws.

    There is plenty of government land that could be used to establish zones or colonies in which these sex offenders could live amongst themselves in a contained/controlled environment.

    Control and containment? What options are left?

  11. Big red on December 18th, 2013 5:57 am

    Violent sexual offender should be locked away for life. They don’t need another chance to wreck someone’s life. They did it before they will do it again ( proven fact).If the judicial system work as it should these individuals should never see freedom again. Please keep them locked away from society because if they would or ever did it to my family member the movie LAW ABIDING CITIZEN will come true for the perv.

  12. Carolyn Bramblett on December 18th, 2013 5:24 am

    Rapists and particularly those who sexually assault children ought not to be allowed to live in society anymore. These people ought to be executed. We have DNA testing now.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News