LAWS IN CONFLICT

Florida forbids either predators or offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school, a child care facility, a park or playground or other places where children regularly gather. The law makes no distinction between predators, who are the more violent but much rarer type of sexual attacker, and offenders, whose misconduct usually does not involve violence and may not directly involve another person. Following the state's lead, Miami Beach extended its residency restriction to 2,500 feet. Many cities, including a half dozen in Volusia County, followed.

The result isn't a safer Florida, but a less traceable population of sex offenders and predators -- exactly the opposite of what the laws intended. Rather than abide by the restrictions, more than 1,000 offenders (out of some 47,000 predators and offenders on the state's registry) have dropped off law enforcement's radar.

Other states that have mirrored Florida's draconian laws and ordinances are facing similar problems: Making no distinction between offenders (who rarely re-offend even without the draconian laws) and predators needlessly stigmatizes and alienates tens of thousands of offenders. Barring them from living in their communities prevents them from reintegrating into society, being close to their families or support systems, or holding jobs.

Courts are taking notice. In Duval County, a circuit court declared the 2,500-foot restriction unconstitutional on due process grounds. Earlier this month, a federal judge in Orlando cast doubt on the federal offender-registration law.
The Legislature is taking notice, too, but its solution is just as disturbing as the law and ordinances it's looking to reform. A bill sponsored by Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, would eliminate Florida's vigilantist mosaic of 128 different sex-offender living-restriction ordinances and impose one universal standard. The prohibition buffer from "places where children gather" would be extended to 1,500 feet. It would also create 24-hour "child protection zones" prohibiting predators and offenders from loitering within 300 feet of places where children gather. In other words, it replaces 128 misguided and counterproductive prohibitions with one big misguided and counterproductive prohibition.

More rational states do it better. Massachusetts' offender registry, for example, doesn't confuse offenders and predators. It keeps most offenders' information restricted to police files. Police track offenders and predators, including through periodic, in-person visits at the individual's address. Residency restrictions according to arbitrary buffers don't apply -- both because they're indefensible as a matter of civil liberties and practically pointless as a matter of effective public safety. But hysteria still sells for now in Florida. Aronberg's bill detects some problems, but instead of addressing them, it universalizes them.