Cracked System

A homeless man lost his life in Florida this week after interceding in an attack on restaurant owner Melida Murillo for whom he worked sporadically in exchange for food. The restaurateur’s life was saved when Kelcy Ruiz jumped in between Murillo and her attacker, Tyrone Daniel Clark, who instead turned on Ruiz instead, stabbing him to death.

Clark, who is also homeless, was among about 2,000 registered sexual offenders who had skipped out from monitoring required by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. He was arrested in Miami on drug charges in March but was released, apparently because officials did not realize he had absconded from the registry.

Upon reading this story, I was immediately reminded of the recent sex offender legislation in Florida about which I wrote recently:

Florida Governor Jeb Bush has signed the Jessica Lunsford Act into law, which not only strengthens sentencing for child sex abusers who prey on children under the age of 12, but also includes a provision allowing the state to track such offenders for life.

I said at the time that I believed such legislation, though admittedly attractive in some ways on its face, will be less helpful in preventing sex crimes (because sex offenders are nothing if not clever about finding victims no matter how difficult), than useful to the government in making its job easier, which is simply not a reasonable argument for lifetime tracking, regardless of the heinous nature of the crime.

That the Florida Department of Law Enforcement lost track of Clark, and that even an arrest did not trigger some sort of notice to police that he was wanted for existing monitoring violations, seem to be evidence that the Jessica Lunsford Act is not legislation of last resort, but instead a bandage intended to cover existing cracks in the system. And while I have not a shred of sympathy in my heart for sex offenders, I’m still not convinced that taking additionally punitive measures against any felon is warranted when part of the problem is clearly a failing system.