Posting #73 – The Simple Fact Is, By Luis

By:  From the RSOL National Digest April 2009 Issue
Date:  05/01/2009

Luis Mariscal is fighting for his life. Since being laid off from his job back on March 31, 2007 Mariscal, has been looking for work in an environment that does not allow for an end to punishment and a meaning to rehabilitation.

“I worked for a local General Contractor in Ocala, Florida for almost 7 years. I never missed a day of work,” says Mariscal. “I had a great opportunity when I was released from prison back on December 26th, 2002. I took advantage of every single educational course that was offered during my near nine years in prison. I learned AutoCAD operation, an application used for Architectural and Engineering drafting and design.”

Mariscal, is a convicted sex offender who has been classified, by laws that base classification on the charge rather than the circumstance, as "Predator".

“It's one thing to be out of work and with the country in a recession, but when you are trying to find a job and you have this title on you, it is ten times harder to convince someone to hire you. I think part of the reason it is harder to find a job now than it was back when I was released, is because of the new laws and media attention that these types of crimes get now. The Jessica Lundsford case and others did not happen until after I got out and was working. The people I worked with did not treat me any different than how they did when they first met me. They knew I was trying to do all the right things and most everyone I worked with knew I was a sex offender. I never had any problems at my job.” Mariscal observes.

As ‘Sex Offender’ laws and Post-Correction conditions ramped up and are applied retroactively, Mariscal encountered the ‘unintended consequences’ society so casually accepts in today’s world of wars fought on the 24-hour news cycle with ‘collateral damage’ being more a filler than the story of the senseless carnage of ideology.
 
“When I was laid off, I got three interviews shortly following.
One was with a major architectural firm in Ocala. They thought my resume was fantastic and my work history excellent. They spoke to my references, and even shook my hand and said ‘Welcome aboard’ as soon as I walked through the door. But, when I had to disclose to them I was a sex offender, they took it all back and said they could not hire me because they did not want any problems regarding their huge contract with the Sheriff Department building the new jail and Courthouse extension. The same thing happened at my next interview. They just don’t want anything to do with it [a person on the registry].”
 
The poorly conceived, ill-crafted, knee-jerk legislation enacted more to get votes than to actually take an objective look at what works and effective response to address the issue, has far reaching consequences to the unthinking society focused on the tragedy engendered by single incidents than the reality of the issue.

“What makes things even worse,” says Mariscal, “if I don’t find a job soon, I am going to lose my new home which I just built three years ago. My wife and I were both working hard. We saved our money,
we did everything right and built our credit. Our mortgage was well within our means. If I lose my house, I can get put back in prison if I don’t have a place to live. That’s the law of registration,
you must have a permanent residence. I cannot pay my cost of supervision to probation and the way it looks now, my wife and I will need to take out all our IRA savings to help us hang on for a few more months. My case happened back in 1984, here it is 2009, and I am still being punished over and over again.”

The law and society continue to waste money on rehabilitation that is ignored and words of forgiveness that only apply on Sunday.

The simple truth is that hysteria driven by media and politicians who have no concept of how to govern fill an apathetic society with words and taxes that are wasted while they ignore the fact that over 90% of all sex offenders are never charged with or convicted of a second offense. The former sentencing laws worked and if money had been spent on education and treatment instead of registries the unchanged approximate 6% recidivism rate could have been lessened.

The rhetoric of the Heralds of the Registry and Champions of Victims is merely a front for the millions of dollars these organizations raise to continue ineffective programs that have zero impact on anything other than their own pockets and the assured election of legislators that have led our nation to economic crisis and a position of suspicion in the World Community. The registry has finally shown to the World and the few thinking Americans that the King has no clothes.

“ I have tried to do everything right and give all I could back to society by doing charity work for Habitat for Humanity designing houses for them. I buy toys for underprivileged kids at Christmas and my wife delivers them, because it’s my way of giving back,” Mariscal explains.

The simple truths are; recidivism for the category of sex offense is very low, treatment and education are effective, registries and residency restrictions have virtually zero impact on the incidence of sex offense, tragic cases such as Walsh, Lunsford, and others are extremely rare, missing and exploited children statistics are propped up by parental abduction and do not clearly identify the fact that suspects or convicted perpetrators are not persons previously convicted of a sex offense, and the greatest number of offenses against children occur in their own home and are committed by a person related to and known to the victim.

At some point, punishment becomes punishment for punishment’s sake. When that punishment is continued in the face of facts to the contrary, then punishment meets the test of cruel and unusual punishment.

Why are these facts ignored? These facts are ignored because they would not generate the income collected by government in taxes and donated to proponents of the registry. These facts, facts that would actually have an impact on the safety of the community and children are ignored by legislators, law enforcement and supporters of registries because they would save money and eliminate the numerous useless jobs done by those filling positions to maintain the mechanics of the registry and the Prison Industry that fills the public coffers with vote getting jobs and double taxed income.

“I just try to do all the good I can for people and yet it seems no matter how hard I try, something new develops that lawmakers come out with to make my life a living hell. Why do they pick on me and all the others out here trying to do the right things.” asks Mariscal.

How does a man face life when society and the government are intent on ending it; when all that is left when society has taken your dignity and government refuses to honor the American concept of Justice, and forgiveness is only a word spoken on Sunday?

With Courage.

But I will never give up, I will fight this all the way to the end, I will find work… sooner or later.”

Mariscal