Florida House Bill 91 frightens me. And so does Florida Representative Susan K. Goldstein R-Weston, Florida-District 97.

Why? Because this bill continued to be crafted and drafted by elected bill sponsors, including Representative Susan Goldstein, who have been provided the most current research and statistics regarding sexual offenders/sexual predators and chose to ignore the facts. Ms. Goldstein and other Florida lawmakers like her know full well the difference between the distinction of sexual offender and sexual predator. Ms. Goldstein recently stood before the October 2005 House Judiciary Workshop regarding this very issue and only under pressure from the Committee, did she fully admit her awareness that offenders and predators were very different designations. Yet, the Criminal Justice Committee recently unanimously approved a bill to tighten a state law limiting the places where offenders and predators can live.

We can better protect the public and especially children from sexual abuse and assault. It requires a hard look at where Florida's public policy is lacking, specifically the development and implementation of a tier level/risk assessment system. A tier system would allow quality monitoring by law enforcement of those 2% of the 37,000 "offenders" deemed extremely dangerous to our children. If the tier level system had been in place one year ago, it is quite probable that John Couey would have never met Jessica Lunsford-because he (as a career criminal) would have been better monitored by law enforcement as a high level offender. Implementation of a tier system would reveal those predators who are a danger to our children, those who currently hide behind so-called offenders who have been convicted for victimless "crimes" such as public urination, consensual teenage sex, or have chatted online with an undercover officer.

But rather than speak the truth and be proactive, Florida Representatives such as Susan Goldstein have decided to use fear and hysteria to continue to perpetuate a myth-that residency buffer zones are paramount protection for our children. Although research indicates this as not only untrue but ineffective, Ms. Goldstein and others lawmakers like her, would rather banish offenders and their non-offending family members under the guise of protecting the general public. This action indeed uses the offender registry in a punitive manner which directly violates the intent of the registry-to inform the public of who is living in their neighborhoods.

Most offenders are persons who have made stupid choices and will never and have never, demonstrated predatorial behavior towards children. The entire Florida registry system creates huge numbers of persons registered in order to continue to receive federal funding as automatic registration regardless of judicial discretion is required under Florida Statute 943.0436. The "net" has been cast too wide regarding the definition of offender and law enforcement, as indicated by statements to the House Criminal Justice Committee by Public Defender Bob Dillinger of Clearwater, will agree to that statement. (Mr. Dillinger indicated a better way to keep tabs on sexual predators is through monitoring as required by the Jessica Lunsford Act rather than burden police with trying to determine how far their homes are from schools and other places named in the HB 91).

The Florida Sex Offender Registry, as currently designed, simply does not work. Residency buffer zones banish entire families. The residency buffer zones are an enforcement nightmare in Iowa. Police officers spend valuable time measuring 2500 feet distances and removing persons from their homes, separating people from their families. Is this how the Florida Legislature plans to use our law enforcement? Does the Florida Legislature want to be known for the break up of families? Or does the Florida Legislature only work for certain families and certain children?

We need to have the political will to end the "feel-good" and "knee-jerk" victim-named laws that are doing precious little to actually protect anyone. It's time to be proactive about the entire offender issue. As the general public becomes more and more educated about the scheme the offender registry has become, as the method the State implements to label a person an offender becomes common knowledge to everyday citizens, as parents across the United States want to know what more can be done by law enforcement to better protect their children from PREDATORS, the quick, sound bite cry of residency buffer zones will fall on the ears of those now informed.

Sharon Wilson is a freelance writer who advocates for the protections of all children.