Blog

Miami Law Requires Sex Offenders to Live Under a Bridge. Could Virginia Be Next?

Can convicted sex offenders really be required to live under a bridge in the United States of America?  Apparently so.  In response to the murder of Jessica Lunsford, Miami Dade County passed a law which prevents convicted sex offenders from living within 2500 feet of any place where children congregate. Since schools and parks are seemingly everywhere in densely populated Miami, and apartments are off limits because of pools, finding suitable housing in Miami Dade County is essentially impossible.  In addition, they are prohibited from leaving the county while on parole so they can't live somewhere else.  Probaton and parole officers couldn't find any place in Miami for these parolees to live in compliance with the law, so they literally have been told to live as homeless people UNDER the Julia Tuttle Causeway bridge - for as long as they remain on probation / parole.  The causeway is listed as the official address and parole officers stop by to make sure the parolees are "home".  No one wants a convicted sex offender living next door, and the issue of where to house convicted sex offenders when they are released from prison is difficult and complicated, but for the government to pass laws removing suitable housing within the county, prohibiting parolees from leaving the county to live elsewhere, and requiring them to live under a bridge just doesn't seem right.  Lawyers with the ACLU are challenging these laws as cruel and unusual punishment prohibited by the 8th Amendment to the Unites States Constitution. 

The Wilson Law Firm is located in Manassas, Virginia and serves the entire Commonwealth of Virginia.  Call us today for a no obligation consultation at 1-888-384-5997.

Labels: 8th amendment cruel and unusual punishment paole sex offender united states constitution