Sunday, January 13, 2019

Ariela on the award winning UNTOUCHABLE (2016) hits VOD and digital platforms January 15

This is a repost of Ariela's review from 2016 of the excellent documentary UNTOUCHABLE which is finally being released on January 15th. This is an updated version of the film that both Ariela and myself saw at Tribeca almost 3 years ago. Director David Fiege has brought the film up today with addition of more material. It is a very important film that demands to be seen and is highly recommended.

UNTOUCHABLE is a documentary that talks about sexual offender laws in the U.S. There are 750,000 registered sex offenders in the United States. What a sexual offender is though is very broadly defined.

This film was a real eye opener. The documentary begins with a story about a girl in Miami (Lauren Book) who was horribly abused by her nanny for 6 years before coming forward. Lauren’s father is Ron Book, who is a multi- millionaire who will do anything to protect his daughter. He winds up helping to pass the toughest sex offender laws in the country. One of the laws was that registered sexual offenders can’t be within 2,500 feet of a school, playground etc. There are a lot of schools and playgrounds in Miami, thus causing many sexual offenders to become homeless, living under a bridge.

Studies show that residency restrictions don’t work. 93% of victims know their abuser. Studies also found that when they followed 10,000 sexual offenders over a 3 year period, 3.5% of them went back to jail for a new sex crime. The others, went back to jail for ridiculous reasons. One man whose story they told in the movie, was 8 minutes late to where he was living, he even called his probation officer, telling him the buses were running late. He got 4 years in jail, just for being 8 minutes late.

There was another story about a girl named Shawna who was a registered sex offender, for having sex with a minor when she was 18. He was a friend whom she was drinking with and who initiated having sex with her. She was registered as a level 3 which she said is a pretty serious rating. She will be on probation for the rest of her life. In 10 years she has had to pay 35k for probation, for polygraphs, for therapy (all of these things are required). She has had 10 jobs, never making more than $10.25 an hour. She has 2 kids and isn’t allowed to be with them in a playground. It was really mind boggling.

This documentary is a must see. It shows all the different sides and perspectives and really makes you think

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