The Smart Justice Alliance’s goals are to:
- Make Florida’s communities safer;
- Save the taxpayers money; and
- Hold offenders accountable while providing the tools for them to live law-abiding lives
Any serious attempt to create meaningful change in Florida’s approach to criminal justice must be comprehensive and include all stakeholders. Therefore, mission Number One for the Florida Smart Justice Alliance will be to forge consensus among the broad range of affected parties – including law enforcement, prosecutors and public defenders, the judiciary, state government, victim rights groups, service providers and the business community. Members of the Alliance are working to develop policies that:
- Minimize the extent to which children and the mentally ill are locked up;
- Incorporate assessment tools to effectively guide sentencing diversion alternatives and reentry; and
- Make greater system-wide use of evidenced-based programs that reduce costs and lower recidivism.
Based on the words of Barney Bishop, however (who is no stranger to the Shiitake Awards), the Florida Smart Justice Alliance needs to do a lot of soul searching. Barney Bishop, in a testimony to the Florida House Judiciary Committee on March 3, offered this gem of a comment regarding a proposed 50 year minimum sentence for sex offenses law in committee:
"We think that very long sentences are warranted; in fact, we'd like longer sentences. And I would just say in closing that with respect to smart justice that maybe what we ought to really be doing is thinking about giving the victims’ families an opportunity to have visitation with the perpetrators and a pair of scissors. That's our idea of smart justice, Mr. Chairman, not anything short of that."
(ADDENDUM: It seems Barney Bishop has a failing memory, so the offending statement can be found by CLICKING HERE and going to about one hour 51 minutes into the video. For the impatient types, the clip is below as well)
This is NOT the type of person running a criminal justice reform agency. He should resign immediately. Then again, his "Smart Justice Alliance" can't seem to keep staff around for long so it appears this "alliance" is an alliance of one. As noted by FAC, Barney Bishop is the lobbyist for The Wakulla County Sheriffs Department. Last year Wakulla County had to pay City Walk $160,000 to settle a lawsuit. Think Barney should have mentioned this in his opinion piece. Sketchy!
I'd gladly challenge Barney Bishop III on the issues in a face-to-face meeting. He can even bring a pair of scissors if he likes but he better keep them to himself. But since his cowardly response is to threaten me with a gun and arrest, like the cowardly thug that he truly is, I'll be content with showing him up for the fool he is. BTW, fuck the NRA, bragging about your membership just proves you're a kook.
It is even funnier as Bishop got into it with black FL Rep Ramon Alexander by telling him the KKK and the Nazis have the right to free speech and if you don't like it, walk away. Oh, and Barney Bishop apparently thinks "smart justice" is having 6 year old kids arrested for bad behavior at school.
City Walk shelter violates zoning code and needs to move out of the neighborhood | Opinion
Barney Bishop III Your Turn
A recent column mentioning the shelter on Mahan Drive cites it as a “homeless” shelter. It is also a “low barrier” shelter for sex offenders. It is to be expected that supporters of this facility would neglect to cite this fact and attempt to obscure the issue as a homeless issue.
While it was initially only to be used as a temporary cold night shelter, City Walk shelter was surreptitiously and illegally transformed into a permanent shelter that includes sex offenders.
It is across the street from Hilltop Academy and near public schools. This violates Florida law, common sense, and is highly inappropriate. Moreover, the neighbors were never notified of the change. In one article, Renee Miller, the executive director, claims they looked in the city code and did not find any restrictions that applied to them.
There is no need to check the city code if this shelter is temporary and only for cold nights. But there are restrictions if its usage is changed to a permanent location with sex offenders. So Ms. Miller knew exactly what she was doing from the beginning. For that alone, the permanent request for a zoning change should be rejected out-of-hand, if not for the other reason that you do not reward a purposeful violator of the city code.
A low barrier sex offender shelter is defined as a facility that provides food, drink and a bed to sex offenders, but no treatment is provided whatsoever. They can come and go as they please. Consequently, women and children have every right to fear for their safety.
Ms. Miller knows full well, having been a shelter provider in other locations, that sex offenders must register every time they move. Her lack of oversight is unprofessional and dangerous. Sex offenders have strict statutory requirements and one newspaper story indicated one of the sex offenders was already on probation, which means they have already violated the law.
I have worked as a lobbyist for nonprofits that deal with issues of substance abuse/mental health, juvenile justice and adult corrections for 28 years now. My clients put facilities like this in industrial areas, where neighborhoods are not adversely impacted. Warehouses and such are not incompatible neighbors, and so long as there is a bus line nearby, the shelter occupants still have access to grocery stores, social services, etc.
It is for these reasons that both Florida Smart Justice Alliance and Citizens for Responsible Spending oppose any attempt to keep the shelter on Mahan Drive — under any circumstances or restrictions — in its current location. We certainly oppose it being there as a permanent location.
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