Apartment complex caters to registered sex offenders

Near Pahokee, Fla., a pastor has turned a former camp for migrant workers into an apartment complex for registered sex offenders. (Who, you might have heard, tend to have a rough time finding places to live.) They call it Miracle Park, possibly because Village of the Damned was already taken. The operators are facing lawsuits, though, because they allegedly forced out former residents who had children, for obvious reasons. Miracle Park also has its share of critics who are upset that so many RSOs are living together, but it's more than three miles from the nearest town and easily complies with the various 1,000-feet rules placed on sex offenders.

Comments

[Pat, Sues boy]

Getting flashes of that leper colony in "Papillion"!

[AJ]

Well...I feel bad for the families forced out but I like the fact they are all together...not around kids, and their PO can easily keep an eye on them...sounds like a plan that works.

[Searching]

I think it will open the neighborhood up to attacks, if you know it is full of sex offenders.. what is to stop them?

[John/Oregon]

it is a shame that there are still people ignorant enough about sex offenders that they feel housing them three miles out of town is some kind of danger.

Truth is 94% of RSOs (registered sex offenders) never commit another sex offense.

Only 4% of the SOs' like Garrido ever commit a new offense. All other offense groups have recidivism rates as high as 70%. Sex offenders have 'the' lowest recidivism rates of 'all' offenders, yet
we spend 'BILLIONS" to watch this group that poses almost no risk. Better to spend our hard earned tax dollars on the 4% rather than the 96%.

The minister in Florida is truely being Christian with his work. How about the rest of us showing the compassion of Jesus now, rather than only when it is convenient (like Gentiles).

[Pat, Sues boy]

So John in Oregon, are you saying ALL Gentiles(non jews) use religion at their convenience, or did I somehow misinterperut your last paragraph?

[Searching]

John, then explain why so many people that are caught committing sexual crimes against children, are repeat offenders?

[Tonia]

How can society be so ignorant to what is happening to so-called sex offenders. What happen to "land of the free"? Dont you realize that there are SO MANY crimes that can land you on the sex offender registries, including teen consensual sex, teens texting nude photos of each other or putting them on myspace. What about the fathers wrapped up in false accusations of child abuse by mothers out to win full custody at any cost? These are also the people society (and the media) want to see homeless?! Not all sex offenders have hurt children - some are on the registry simply for looking at one photo of a child that was forwarded to them through email. Unless these laws are modified, and modified soon, there is a chance that we ALL will wind up on the registry. Dont urinate in public, you could be next. Learn the fact, wake up America, educate yourselves and educate your teens.
www.love-is-not-a-crime.com

[Tonia]

Someone wrote: "John, then explain why so many people that are caught committing sexual crimes against children, are repeat offenders?" This is untrue. According to the Department of Justice, only 5.3% re-offend, that means 94.7% DO NOT re-offend. Please people, know your facts before you make comments. Find out for yourselves:
www.reformsexoffenderlaw.org
If you think I dont know what I'm talking about, my son, at age 19, had "consensual sex" with his girlfriend. She was in court (at age 18 - 2 years later) and stated "I am not a victim!" He is now a registered sex offender. So now, society lumps him into a category with child molesters and you think this is right? Do you think this is where America should be now? ABSOLUTELY NOT! Stop spreading lies and learn the truth!

[Sue]

What has happened to society and our politicians when they want to condemn teens to homelessness, loss of family, friends and a lifetime of hell for having consensual sex with a younger girlfriend. It saddens me to see so many of these teens now homeless and depressed because the media and politicians have put so much fear into society. Wake up people and learn the facts before you too become a registered offender!

[sly]

You know, if I was the FL Gov & Legislature I would just make a law that said sex offenders could not live in the state period. Anywhere. Ever. Yep. Then we wouldn't have this problem.

[k]

It doesn't matter what the truth is. If Oprah, or "Dr Phil" or some other tv celebrity says "the sky is falling" it has to be true. Facts be damned.

[Pat, Sues boy]

k's words speak volumes.

[parkay]

Related:
It is now exactly 10 years since sodomite monsters Joshua Macave Brown and David Don Carpenter drugged, bound, gagged, tortured, raped, and murdered a 13-year-old boy, Jesse Dirkhising, in Prairie Grove, AR. The brutal, degenerate crime was nearly ignored by the pro-sodomy national media.
See news page
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=110912
and page
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7202414

[Pat, Sues boy]

parkay-Do you speak of the same media that covers the gay marriage issue, keeping it in the spotlight, instead of sweeping it under the rug [in the closet] like ANY media would have done 30 years ago?

[DJChitown]

If a state banned all sex offenders from the state, it would have very little or any impact on the reduction of crimes against children. Nearly 90% of all child victims are victimized by a relative or someone they know. Stranger on Stranger sex crimes make up less than 10% of crimes against children. So instead of punishing sex offenders shouldn't we spend more money on educating children and adults? If I had a small child in the family, I would fear Uncle Bob more so then a RSO in the neighborhood. The person that has "earned" the child's trust is more likely to be the abuser.

[quixotic]

parkay, if I could come up with 100 examples of heterosexual molestation for every example of homosexual abuse that you provide, would that convince you that your example proves nothing? No, of course not. Your beliefs trump reality. That makes for an unhappy and unproductive life, you know. You can do better.

[Marvin]

parkay, keeping running from those gay thoughts. Wanna tell us how much you like football and beer, too?

[146]

Sure like the way statistics are thrown around as facts in this blog.

[Benoliwal]

No, the facts in statistics are not thrown about in this blog. They are not clearly stated in full context, but the statistics do bare out a fact that is well known and accepted by many but not all clinicians, researchers and others who have taken the time to know.

There will always be you few who will continue to deny the wrongness of sex offender laws, and no matter what anyone tells you or shows you, you have decided you like the way you think, and no one is going to pry you from your false beliefs, so all the power to you.

People have come to me desperate for help because their son, usually the case is now under a sex offense charge, or has been convicted of a listed sex offense, and they are desperate for help. These people once thought like those who still indicate they have no heart, and now they want others to jump through hoops to help them.

Now these people know the stigma and how many in society don't care. To those who have decided that anyone labeled a sex offender or registered sex offender is a child molester, then nothing can be said to make them see otherwise.

Love your hate and your hate will love you back and keep you trapped. That is what I believe the hard headed and hard hearted want. Go for it all you unreasonable haters.

[dianne]

Laws meant to PROTECT minors are being used to criminalize them. Teens have always had relations, which means our great-grandparents were all sex offenders. The laws go too far, except, of-course if you are famous. I'd like to take some of these young people in myself!