The Forbidden Zone
We really need to get rid of the registry, it’s driving me nuts.
Everyday I read a new article about another place, another town, another county or country where registrants are “forbidden”.
Articles from Florida to California giving details of registrants new “forbidden zones” make me cringe. In Pasco County, Florida no registrants within 1,000 ft. of schools, parks, daycare or public libraries. In Lakeland, Florida there is a 2,500 ft. residency ban and a 300 ft. “safety zone” near bus stops. San Antonio, Florida has a 1,500 ft. area ban while the state law sets a 1,000 ft. buffer which excludes libraries. Polk County, Florida has a 1,000 ft.forbidden zone with the generic “anywhere children regularly congregate” wording which means what? Would someone tell me please, where aren’t there children?
It seems to me that there are children everywhere and no one knows where they might tend to congregate from one minute to the next. They congregate in malls, does that mean registrants can’t shop for clothes?. I went to the grocery store today, sure enough, there were children congregating. Are registrants supposed to go hungry? It’s crazy.
In San Luis Obispo County the YMCA plans to keep out registrants by initiating background checks in 2017. No “working-out” for registrants there. (But I guess murderers and thieves, go right ahead, get buffed.)
The registry needs to be scaled back, way back. Forbidden zones have not proven to keep anyone safer. If anything, it keeps registrants “less safe” because they don’t know which way they can turn without innocently stepping over some imaginary line that they didn’t even know was there.
When our public library announced that registrants were no longer welcome, I cut up my library card. (As an avid reader this was lunacy, I must admitt, but the point is, if my family member wasn’t welcome there, then it wasn’t a place I would feel welcome either.) I’m sure the library could care less, but it’s the principle of the thing.
The whole idea of forbidden zones, residency restrictions, safety zones “places where children congregate” has become disabling to many registrants. As I’ve mentioned before, there is no handbook for all of these restrictions, you walk from one town to another, cross into another county or step foot in another state or heaven forbid, country, and you are in uncharted territory my friend. Having experienced just how the in-justice system works, I would imagine you are pretty much on your own if you accidently move a ft. to the left or right in the wrong direction because the excuse “I didn’t know” isn’t going to fly with law enforcement officials. Town ordinances, state laws, federal laws, they all differ and it’s ridiculous to expect a registrant to be aware of all of them before they venture out their front door.
With all the “forbidden zones”, public places that registrants “aren’t” allowed to be, I suggest maybe giving them a tax break, after all, why should they be paying taxes on public places they are banned from?
