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Mikler, 40, served eight years of a 20-year sentence for attempting
to rape a 12-year-old Miami-Dade County child in 1989.
One month after his release, he baited an 11-year-old girl in Fort
Lauderdale toward his apartment and shoved her inside. As the girl
begged him to let her go, he raped her four times.
''She was just never a teenager after it happened,'' the girl's
aunt told the Broward state attorney's office. The girl has since
dropped out of high school and has been using drugs, she said. ``Lord,
I pray that man never gets out and does that again to someone.''
Ganey and Milker are now back in prison -- each serving life sentences.
EVALUATIONS
SCREENING PROCESS IS SUBJECTIVE
Another problem: the state has only six people to sift through
more than 2,000 cases a year.
That means reviewing each offenders' criminal records, court cases,
medical and mental health files and victim statements, police reports
and other documents.
Using those records, the specialists -- the first filter in the
screening process -- must make highly subjective decisions about
which men are ''likely'' to commit new sexual crimes.
''We don't have some magic formula where we plug in information''
and get an answer, said Greg Venz, who was the director of the state's
program until he became special counsel for DCF.
Private psychologists hired by the state then conduct face-to-face
evaluations of those offenders and send recommendations to DCF for
a final decision.
Questions have been raised about the qualifications of those conducting
the face-to-face interviews with the men.
Unlike programs in Washington, Massachusetts and other states,
Florida has no special licensing for evaluators. In fact, until
2001 there were no requirements.
DCF did create some criteria after a state audit pointed out the
problem in 2000 -- but national experts say the guidelines are inadequate.
''My view is that there must be some type of licensing requirement
and more specialized training. What Florida has right now is well
below the threshold needed for this highly specialized field,''
said Natalie Brown, a former Florida evaluator who now screens offenders
for programs in Washington and Missouri.
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