Lauren Book walks among grimy tents, wooden shanties, cardboard boxes, rusty cars and piles of garbage. On this day, it's quiet under the Julia Tuttle Causeway, except for the deafening drone of cars and trucks barreling over the bridge above.

``This is Homer's house,'' Book says, standing in front of a small wooden door on a wretched shack that looks more like an outhouse than a home. Homer isn't there because he is back in jail. But a handful of other sex offenders and predators who harbor here are busying themselves cleaning up trash and human excrement.

Book has visited this dark and foul-smelling encampment over and over again, about a dozen times in all. Most residents know her name, and she knows many of theirs.

What is remarkable about Book's visits to this world of outcasts is that for six years, starting when she was 11, she was a victim of sexual abuse. She later embarked on a legislative crusade against sex offenders, lobbying the state Legislature with her father, Ron Book, one of Florida's most powerful lobbyists, to enact stricter laws against convicted molesters.

The legal frenzy prompted local communities to enact more restrictive laws, creating an international public embarrassment over the bridge's rodent-infested squalor in the shadow of Miami Beach. At one point it was home to almost 100 sex offenders.

Lauren Book, 24, now realizes that forcing predators to live in inhumane conditions will not protect children; in fact, she fears it may do the opposite.

``It's a terrible situation under there, it is awful,'' she admits. ``I don't think them living under a bridge or absconding keeps children safe. I don't want them so desperate that they go out and find a child.''

Book, working with her father, is now trying to help the same kind of people she fought so long to erase from her childhood memory.

YEARS OF ABUSE

Book was 11 years old when her nanny, Waldina Flores, angered because the little girl was chewing gum, disciplined her in a bizarre way: She stuck her tongue in Book's mouth and pulled the gum out with her tongue.

Soon thereafter, Flores was forcing her to have sex at night when her younger brother and sister were asleep, in closets, bathrooms and other private places. If Book refused, she was beaten, punched, kicked, defecated upon and thrown down a flight of stairs.

The physical and sexual abuse would last for years.

``It went on every single day, morning and night,'' Book said. ``She had brainwashed me into believing that we were in love and were going to get married.''

Though Flores was formidable, at times she could be caring and loving. Book admits she was dependent on Flores, who combed her hair, picked out her school clothes, helped her get dressed and even decided what type of feminine hygiene products she would use.

``I was scared and confused, but she explained it in a way that made sense to a 12-year-old,'' Book said. ``She provided a shower curtain around my life. I didn't have to see any terrible things because she took care of the problems, which made her seem really appealing because you have someone who is listening to you, someone who loves you, who is there for you and has not left.''

It would take years before she could talk about the abuse to her father, who was working long hours in Tallahassee as a lobbyist. Her mother, Patricia, also worked tirelessly, tending to her new chocolate-shop business.

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