By Paul Elias The Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO – The California Supreme Court on Thursday questioned the constitutionality of a “Jessica’s Law” provision that allows indefinite confinement of sexually violent predators.

It’s the first of two decisions the court is expected to issue over the legality of the law that was passed as Proposition 82 in 2006.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to rule Monday on a separate legal challenge to a provision prohibiting released predators from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park.

On Thursday, the court dealt with whether sexually violent predators can be treated differently from other violent felons, who can be held only for defined terms in mental health facilities after prison.

Week of January 11th

Below is a summary of what happened this week with bills that CALCASA is tracking through the state legislature. The list includes bills that CALCASA is sponsoring, supporting and watching. We included links to each bill, so that you can read the text.

Assembly Public Safety

AB 588 (Portantino) Sexual assault crimes.
CALCASA Position: Support
Status:  1/13/2010 From committee: Do pass, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. Re-referred. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (January 12).
Current Location: 1/13/2010 A-APPR.

AB 633 (Ammiano) Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation: inmates and wards: classification.
CALCASA Position: Support
Status: 1/13/2010 From committee: Do pass, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. Re-referred. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (January 12).
Current Location: 1/13/2010 A-APPR.

AB 984 (Nava) Crimes.
CALCASA Position: Support
Status: 1/12/2010 Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations.
Current Location:  1/12/2010 A-APPR

AB 505  (Furutani) Sex offenders: housing.
CALCASA Position: Concerns/Watch
Status: 1/13/2010 From committee: Do pass, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. Re-referred. (Ayes 4. Noes 2.) (January 12).
Current Location: 1/13/2010 A-APPR.

Senate Public Safety

SB 46 (Alquist) Sex offenders: commencing trial: time.
CALCASA Position: Sponsor
Status: 1/13/2010 Set, second hearing. Failed passage in committee.
Current Location: 1/13/2010 S-PUB. S.

SB 677 (Yee) Human trafficking: property: seizure.
CALCASA Position: Support
Status: 1/13/2010 From committee: Do pass, but first be re-referred to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
Current Location: 1/13/2010 S-APPR.

John Simerman reported earlier this week that “less than a year after state corrections officials tightened a $22 million spigot of free apartments and motel rooms for paroled sex offenders, the number of parolees who say they are homeless has nearly doubled, adding fuel for critics who say the tight living restrictions under Jessica’s Law threaten public safety more than bolster it.”

Robert Coombs, the Director of Public Affairs, at CALCASA was interviewed for the story and said:

We’re finally at a point where we just have to acknowledge this is actually a problem, and it’s not one for lack of trying. It’s actually a public safety issue..

I don’t care if these guys have a nice lifestyle. But if you look at the research, it actually says if you reduce their stability you increase the risk of re-offense. I think we’ll start to see there really is that link. The way we find that out is through more victims.

A number of officials were interviewed for the story, including Senator George Runner and CDCR Undersecretary Scott Kernan.

Statement by Vice President Biden on the 10th Anniversary of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

“Violence against women is found in every culture around the world. It is one of our most pervasive global problems, yet it is preventable.  When gang rape is a weapon of war, when women are beaten behind closed doors, or when young girls are trafficked in brothels and fields – we all suffer. This violence robs women and girls of their full potential, causes untold human suffering, and has great social and economic costs.  On this 10th anniversary of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, I urge all Americans to join with the international community in calling for an end to these abuses.”

Over 70 percent of SD sex offenders violate law

More than 70 percent of the registered sex offenders in San Diego County are violating a state law by living too close to schools or parks.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports Sunday that 1,266 out of 1,731 offenders’ addresses made public by the state are in violation of Jessica’s Law. The data was analyzed by the nonprofit group the Watchdog Institute. Jessica’s Law, which critics say is poorly worded, was approved by voters in 2006. It bars sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park.

Jessica’s Law too vague to enforce? — Watch Dog Institute

More than 70 percent of registered sex offenders in San Diego County are violating a state law by living too close to schools and parks.  Jessica’s Law, which was approved by California voters in November 2006, toughened sanctions against sex offenders and bars them from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park. In San Diego County, 1,266 of 1,731 offenders whose addresses are made public by the state live in those restricted zones, according to an analysis by the Watchdog Institute, a nonprofit investigative journalism unit based at San Diego State University.

Hard to track sex offenders as they harness tech gadgets

The pursuit of Lee Shelton began the moment the sex offender was released from prison.

It ended months later with a U.S. Marshals Service helicopter hovering near a D.C. junior high school as Shelton kissed a 14-year-old boy. In between, authorities used two global positioning system devices to track him, learned he was online at the library and seized a secret laptop with a power source in the trunk of his car. He is back in jail.

Sex offenders more difficult to monitor

It ended months later with a US Marshals Service helicopter hovering near a District of Columbia junior high school as Shelton kissed a 14-year-old boy. In between, authorities used two Global Positioning System devices to help track him, learned he was online at the library and seized a secret laptop with a power source in the trunk of his car. His parole was revoked, and he is back in jail.

Shelton, who was originally convicted of molesting boys at the National Air and Space Museum and on the grounds of the Washington Monument, is one of thousands of sex offenders accused of similar crimes after their release from prison or while on probation. His parole violation illustrates the challenges of monitoring hundreds of thousands of offenders.

Suzanne Brown-McBride is the Executive Director of CALCASA as well as the chair of California’s Sex Offender Management Board. Brown-McBride was recently interviewed for “Not in My Backyard,” a radio show, and discussed state policies governing sex offenders.

The documentary features interviews with parole agents, probation officers, a California Department of Corrections official and several homeless high-risk sex offender parolees. It explores the effects of Jessica’s Law and focused on two provisions — residency restrictions and GPS tracking of sex offender parolees.

According to the professionals who supervise and oversee the management of sex offenders, the stress caused by being homeless increases the risk that they’ll commit another crime.

Click here to listen to the full documentary.

The Associated Press reported earlier this morning that the California Supreme Court is set to hear arguments challenging a key section of Jessica’s Law.

Jessica’s Law prohibits registered sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park. The law mandates that all those paroled after Nov. 8, 2006 — when the law took effect — must comply or face more jail time.

The case to be heard Tuesday claims the requirement violates the constitutional rights of sex offenders. Four registered sex offenders have sued the state, arguing the law makes it impossible to find a place to live.

For more information read: California Supreme Court to Review Jessica’s Law

Image from the NYTs

Solomon Moore, a journalist with the New York Times, wrote an article about monitoring paroled sex offenders in California. The piece also discussed the number of sex offenders on parole, the amount of resources spent monitoring sex offenders and legislation that will reduce caseloads for parole agents.

California is the only state that places all released prisoners on parole, no matter the seriousness of their crime. Even at a time of historically low violent crime, critics argue that overloading parole agents compromises public safety.

Legislation passed this month will reduce the “average” caseloads for parole agents to 45, from 70, and nonviolent, less serious offenders will no longer be returned to prison for administrative infractions like missing counseling appointments, ditching parole agent visits or failing drug tests. Agents handling some of the most violent offenders, like Mr. Littleton’s parolees, will also see their caseloads reduced.

Continue reading by clicking here.

In a recent article, the Wall Street Journal discussed the California Sex Offender Management Board and the Jaycee Dugard case.

The article also discussed the number of sex offenders on parole in California, the state’s sex-offender registry, risk classification, and the amount of resources spent monitoring sex offenders.

Janet Neeley, a deputy California attorney general and member of the state’s sex offender board said:

There are now so many people on the registry it’s difficult for law enforcement to effectively track them all, and “it’s more helpful for law enforcement to know…who the highest-risk offenders are,” said Neeley.

…California has been trying to sharpen its focus, but federal and state laws passed in 2006 offer conflicting rules for monitoring sex offenders, Ms. Neeley said.

Under its law, California has chosen to use a program called Static 99, which categorizes sex offenders based on their likelihood to reoffend. To predict risk, it looks at things like the nature of the crime, the offender’s relationship with the victim and whether the offender has been able to form long-term intimate relationships. But the system hasn’t been introduced by most local jurisdictions for those convicted before 2007. Click here to read the full story.

Suzanne Brown-McBride is the Executive Director of CALCASA as well as the chair of California’s Sex Offender Management Board. Brown-McBride was recently interviewed for a story about Jaycee Lee Dugard and discussed state policies governing sex offenders.

Listen to the interview here:

Week of July 6th

Below is a summary of what happened this week with bills that the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA) is tracking through the state legislature. The list includes bills that CALCASA is sponsoring and supporting. We included links to each bill, so that you can read the text. All bills over $150,000 are sent to suspense and reconsidered later in the legislative session.

ASSEMBLY – APPROPRIATIONS

SB 588 (Committee on Public Safety) Sex Offender Management Board.
CALCASA Position: Sponsor
Bill Status: 7/8/2009 Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file.

SB 314 (Calderon) Crime victims.
CALCASA Position: Support
Bill Status: 7/8/2009 From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (Hearing date: July 8.)

SENATE – PUBLIC SAFETY

AB 382 (Ammiano) Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation: inmates and wards: classification.
CALCASA Position: Support
Bill Status: 7/8/2009 From committee: Do pass, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. Re-referred. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (July 7).

AB 807 (Fuentes) Restitution centers.
CALCASA Position: QUESTIONS
Bill Status: 7/8/2009 From committee: Amend, do pass as amended, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (July 7).

Earlier today, the Sacramento Bee posted the following editorial about the unintended consequences of Jessica’s Law:

Sometimes bad laws have a way of coming back to bite the people most responsible for enacting them. That’s the case with state Sen. George Runner, the principal sponsor of Proposition 83, the 2006 initiative popularly known as Jessica’s Law, which voters approved overwhelmingly.

Among other things, the law severely restricts where sexual offenders can live after they are released from prison. Under its provisions, those convicted of rape or child molestation or even misdemeanor indecent exposure cannot live within 2,000 feet of a school or a park.

Click here to continue reading.

Week of June 29th

CALCASA Media Advocacy Guide

CALCASA is pleased to release our Media Advocacy Guide! By clicking here you’ll find the first chapter, giving an overview of the guide and an explanation of our general approach to media advocacy. Over the next month or so we will be releasing new chapters, each covering new concepts or ideas. After all of the chapters have been released, we will make the full document available to download.

Click here to continue reading.

Rosenthal Named White House Adviser on Violence Against Women

Information from the White House Press Office

Vice President Biden, the author of the landmark Violence Against Women Act, announced today the appointment of Lynn Rosenthal as the new White House Advisor on Violence Against Women.

Click here to continue reading.

Women’s eNews: “Spousal Rape Laws Continue to Evolve”

In a recent article, Caroline Johnston-Polisi examined how spousal rape laws have changed in the United States. She pointed out that “the ‘marital rape exemption’ still exists in many states’ laws, even though all 50 states now criminalize spousal rape. Plea bargains can also lead to more lenient sentencing.”

Click here to read the full article.

Friday Legislative Update

Week of June 29th

Click here to read a summary of what happened last week with bills that the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA) is tracking through the state legislature. The list includes bills that CALCASA is sponsoring and supporting.

Recent Ruling on Ohio’s AWA Compliance Law

Recently, an Ohio appellate court found Ohio’s Adam Walsh Act (AWA) to be unconstitutional. Three opinions were issued by the court’s three-judge panel. The majority opinion found the law was in violation of the separation of powers doctrine. The case is State v. Spangler, 2009-Ohio-3178, and the opinion can be found online by clicking here.

Andy Furillo, a journalist with the Sacramento Bee, reported this morning that Senator Runner “a California lawmaker arranged an improper deal with state corrections officials to stop an influx of parolees into his district 10 months before voters approved ‘Jessica’s Law,’ the 2006 ballot measure he wrote to restrict where paroled sex offenders could live.”

In what state Sen. George Runner characterized as a “side agreement” with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the prison and parole agency said it would limit assignments of released offenders into the Antelope Valley to those who had “historical ties” to the area.

The agreement created an added layer of anti-parolee protection for the fast-growing desert valley communities on the northern fringe of Los Angeles County.

Click here to continue reading the article.

Geography and Public Safety’s latest issue focuses on “how mapping and spatial analysis can help jurisdictions understand the effects of restrictions on where sex offenders are allowed to live. Specifically, it discusses how residency restrictions affect recidivism — whether they hamper offenders’ reentry process and make it less likely that they will get treatment and services.”

Other articles in the issue include a “discussion of whether residency restrictions are a good idea, a study of residency restrictions in Minnesota, a report on the use of GPS monitoring for sex offenders in Florida, and a description of a spatial analysis technique for tracking sex offenders piloted by California Department of Corrections data.”

Click here to download the report.

Richard DeAtley reported over the weekend that “a key 2006 Jessica’s Law section allowing open-ended state mental hospital placement for sexually violent predators is constitutional, but defendants who fought re-commitment as the law took effect deserve a court hearing, appellate judges ruled.”

The ruling came from a three-judge panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal “was on five consolidated cases from Riverside County. It was a certified opinion, meaning it has effect throughout the state. The case, argued for the prosecution by the Riverside County District Attorney’s office, can be appealed to the state Supreme Court.”

In September 2006, appellate justices upheld the constitutionality of the indeterminate commitment authorized by Prop. 83, known as Jessica’s Law.

Click here to continue reading.

The Merced Sun Star reported on Monday that “homeless sex offenders on parole may once again live along Black Rascal Creek” as long as the landowner does not object.

Assistant Regional Administrator Bobby Haase said “parole has never been in the housing business. The department’s role is to enforce what parolees can’t do, not tell them what they can.”

Merced Mayor Pro Tem John Carlisle “appealed to Corrections’ undersecretary of operations Scott Kernan to halt the plans. Carlisle said it was the departments’ director who approved rescinding the order. In time, he hopes some solution will be found for the homeless encampments around Merced.”

Currently, the City of Merced is eligible for about $515,000 in economic stimulus money to help the homeless.

Click here to read the full article.

Week of May 18th

California Voters Reject Budget Measures

Last week California votes rejected a number of budget measures. Click here to read a small round-up of stories relating to the Special Election.

Child sex abuse: New questions about improper withholding of videotaped evidence
By Tracey Kaplan

Prosecutor Troy Benson testified last month that he ”freaked out” when he learned after winning a child sex-abuse case that the victim’s medical exam had been videotaped but not turned over to the accused in clear violation of the law.

Benson said he immediately notified the convicted man’s lawyer and the Santa Clara County Superior Court trial judge of the new evidence, which could potentially help the defense. At the time, spring 2006, the defendant, Augustin Uribe, was facing a sentence of 38 years to life in prison.

Click here to continue reading.

Prop. 8 ruling coming Tuesday
By Jim Sanders

The California Supreme Court has announced that it will rule Tuesday on three cases challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 8, the measure voters passed to ban gay marriage. The opinion will be released at 10 a.m. Tuesday, the High Court announced today.

Click here to continue reading.

Chicago Tribune: “Culver signs overhaul of Iowa sex offender limits”

Mike Glover, with the Chicago Tribune, reported earlier today that Iowa Governor Chet Culver “signed into law an overhaul of Iowa’s sex offender laws that prohibits released offenders from setting foot on places where children gather.”

Supervisors to weigh residency restrictions

The Santa Barbara Times reported last week that Santa Barbara County supervisors will hold a hearing on Jessica’s Law. Supervisor Joni Gray “wants to tighten residency restrictions for sexual predators in Santa Barbara County…Gray, who represents Lompoc and Orcutt in the 4th district, said she wants a special ordinance to protect the public and help keep people informed about where dangerous sex offenders live, so that they can be avoided.”

Friday Legislative Update: Week of May 18th

Click here to read a summary of what happened this week with bills that the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA) is tracking through the state legislature. We included links to each bill, so that you can read the text. All bills over $150,000 are sent to suspense and reconsidered later in the legislative session.

Mike Glover, with the Chicago Tribune, reported earlier today that Iowa Governor Chet Culver “signed into law an overhaul of Iowa’s sex offender laws that prohibits released offenders from setting foot on places where children gather.”

Governor Culver signed the measure today and it “retains a ban on sex offenders living within 2,000 feet of places like schools, libraries and day care centers, but it limits that restriction to those who have committed the most severe crimes against children.”

The measure also bans sex offenders from entering facilities without “permission, and it establishes a 300-foot ‘no loiter’ zone around such sites. The Corrections Department will have the authority to decide which offenders can be required to wear electronic monitoring devices letting officials track their movements.”

Click here to continue reading the article.

The Santa Barbara Times reported earlier today that Santa Barbara County supervisors will hold a hearing on Jessica’s Law. Supervisor Joni Gray “wants to tighten residency restrictions for sexual predators in Santa Barbara County…Gray, who represents Lompoc and Orcutt in the 4th district, said she wants a special ordinance to protect the public and help keep people informed about where dangerous sex offenders live, so that they can be avoided.”

The Times noted that the California Sex Offender Management Board issued a report in December explaining that “the residency restrictions of Jessica’s Law are making the public less safe from crime. The restrictions are making less suitable housing available, so more sexual predators are becoming homeless, a situation that could contribute to more crime, according to the board’s report.”

Click here to continue reading the article.

Week of May 4th

NPR: “Lawmakers Move To Curb Rape On Native Lands”

Last week, National Public Radio ran a follow-up segment about Laura Sullivan’s award-winning series on the “prevalence of rape on tribal lands and the difficulty in prosecuting sexual assault cases.” Recently, the federal government announced it plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to improve medical clinics, buy more rape kits and bolster the police response to what authorities say is an epidemic of rapes on Indian land.”

Click here to continue reading.

SART coordinator works to influence national policy
by Jessie Faulkner/The Times-Standard

The level of response to sexual assault and domestic violence on American Indian reservations stretches from none to well organized.

It’s a disparity that Sexual Assault Response Team coordinator Cassie Burgess, a St. Joseph Hospital employee, has been tapped — along with 25 others from around the country — to correct. The group met in Arizona in January and is gathering in Colorado this week to continue drafting new federal protocol for response to sexual assault and domestic violence on tribal lands.

Click here to continue reading.

Friday Legislative Update: Week of May 4th

Every Friday, CALCASA Public Policy posts a summary of what happened during the week with bills that CALCASA is tracking through the state legislature. The update includes links to each bill, so that you can read the full text. Click here to continue reading.

City tightens laws for sex offenders
By Airan Scruby, Staff Writer

Council members took steps last week to tighten restrictions on sex offenders living in the city. “The council has taken a great interest in this issue as many cities have,” Assistant City Attorney Matt Gorman said. “It’s not for punishment, but it’s for public safety.”

The City Council approved the introduction of an ordinance that would expand Jessica’s Law, which requires sex offenders to register their addresses with law enforcement and prohibits parolees from living within 2,000 feet of schools and parks where children congregate. In Pico Rivera’s expansion, all registered sex offenders would be restricted as parolees under Jessica’s Law.

Click here to continue reading.

San Jose dentist Lazar admits to sexual battery on patients
By Sandra Gonzales

After pleading no contest to groping six patients, a San Jose dentist faces up to three years in jail when sentenced July 17. Benva Lazar, 56, entered his plea last week to six misdemeanor counts of sexual battery as part of a deal with Santa Clara County prosecutors. In exchange, three felonies of sexual battery by fraud and six misdemeanor sexual battery charges were dropped. He initially had faced 15 counts of sexual battery.

Click here to continue reading.

Alfred Lee, a staff writer with the Pasadena Star-News, reported last week that many cities are “trying to avoid becoming dumping grounds for registered sex offenders” and are “moving to impose even more stringent residency restrictions that those outlined in Jessica’s Law.”

More than two years after the passage of the statewide law banning registered offenders from living near schools and parks, Arcadia and Pasadena are the most recent local cities considering ordinances that would put nearly all of their territories out of bounds for offenders.

California’s passage in 2006 of Proposition 83, more commonly known as Jessica’s Law, banned registered sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of any school or park. But a clause in the law allowed cities to enact their own, stricter restrictions.

Click here to continue reading.

Week of February 9, 2009

NYT’s: “California, Almost Broke, Nears Brink “

The New York Times reported earlier today that “the state of California — its deficits ballooning, its lawmakers intransigent and its governor apparently bereft of allies or influence — appears headed off the fiscal rails.”

Lawmakers have been trying to close the budget gap, since the fall and since then “the state has fallen into deeper financial straits, with more bad news coming daily from Sacramento. The state, nearly out of cash, has laid off scores of workers and put hundreds more on unpaid furloughs. It has stopped paying counties and issuing income tax refunds and halted thousands of infrastructure projects.”

LAPD Rape Kit Backlog Could Be Cleared by 2010

MSNBC reported last week that “the number of untested rape kits in Los Angeles Police Department’s evidence lockers is far fewer than previously calculated.” On Monday officials said that the backlog could be cleared by summer 2010 and that “the total of untested kits now stands at 4,423, opposed to the previous figure of nearly 7,000.”

Deputy Chief Charlie Beck said the pledge to eliminate the backlog is based on the assumption that staffing and funding levels remain unchanged.

Click here to continue reading.

State to cut back housing aid for paroled sex offenders
By John Simerman, Contra Costa Times

The state will stop paying long-term motel and apartment rents for thousands of sex offenders across California under an order Monday from a top corrections official, who acknowledged the move likely will add to the rolls of sex offenders who become homeless to avoid the living restrictions under Jessica’s Law.

Click here to continue reading.

TEMECULA: Council approves strict sex offender rules
Rules affect sex offenders moving into city, within city

Aaron Claverie reported last week that registered sex offenders “considering a move to Temecula soon will have a tougher time finding a place to live. The Temecula City Council unanimously approved an ordinance Tuesday that makes it a misdemeanor for a registered sex offender to live within 2,000 feet of a park, school or day care center.”

Judge finds sex offender law unconstitutional

SACRAMENTO — In only the third such ruling in the nation, a Sacramento judge has found to be unconstitutional a statute that makes it a federal crime for someone to fail to register as a sex offender and relocate from one state to another.

Editorial: Jessica’s Law doesn’t have it right

LIKE TOO MANY voter-approved initiatives that weren’t very well thought out, Proposition 83, also known as Jessica’s Law, has had costly, unforeseen consequences.

The ballot measure, backed by 70 percent of voters, prohibits paroled sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school, park where children regularly gather.

A major flaw of Prop. 83 is that it makes no distinction between pedophiles and those convicted of committing crimes against adults. Though it makes little sense to ban sex offenders who prey on grown people from areas frequented by kids.

Click here to continue reading.

The Contra Costa Times reported earlier this week that “the state will stop paying long-term motel and apartment rents for thousands of sex offenders across California under an order Monday from a top corrections official, who acknowledged the move likely will add to the rolls of sex offenders who become homeless to avoid the living restrictions under Jessica’s Law.”

ABC News 10: “Paroled sex offenders say new cuts to housing assistance will likely force more of them into the streets at greater risk to public safety.”

Next week, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDRC) announces new policies, including a stricter 60-day limit on paying rent for parolees newly released from prison. The agency says in the past 12 months, the state has paid out almost $20 million in housing assistance for 7,897 parolees. Almost 5,000 of those parolees are convicted sex offenders.

“A lot of the guys are of the mentality that I’m not gonna do this, ya know, and they’re gonna just cut the (GPS) monitors off and go. I mean, I hear guys talking about it every day,” said a 57-year-old sex offender parolee named Russ. He was just booted from his room at a downtown Sacramento hotel because his parole agent said the state won’t pay his $485 rent anymore. Russ isn’t sure what his next move will be, but he said many he knows could likely turn to their old ways without a place to live.

Listen to the story here:

Government Technology reported earlier this week on GPS monitoring and pointed out that this type of monitoring is embraced “as a simple technological solution for tracking the whereabouts of convicted sex offenders — is proving to be something less than a silver bullet for state and local public safety agencies.”

Convinced that GPS monitoring was the answer to the sex offender problem, judges and lawmakers began mandating the technology for high-profile parolees. Beginning in 2005, the technology was widely deployed as means to ensure that offenders complied with the terms of their release, such as staying a safe distance from schools or a victim’s home.

Click here to continue reading the article.

Week of January 1, 2009

2009 Rape Crisis Center (RCC) Budget Update

CALCASA has put together a 2009 RCC Budget Update, which addresses many of the issues related to California’s State budget crisis.

We hope this will help to clarify how California’s recent budget shortfall may (or may not) impact rape crisis centers.

Please feel free to share this update with staff and contact CALCASA if you have questions.

Stalking Victimization in the United States

Cindy Dyer, Director of the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) was interviewed on CBS evening news last night about the release of the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) special report, Stalking Victimization in the United States.

Sandra Hughes reported that an “estimated 3.4 million Americans say they have been stalked. About 130,000 victims said stalking-related problems caused trouble for them at work, even leading to job loss.”

Click here to watch the television segment.

LA Times: “There’s no evidence Jessica’s Law works, California officials say”

Michael Rothfeld, a journalist with the LA Times, reported this morning that “a state panel is urging the governor and legislators to change ‘Jessica’s Law,’ saying its restrictions on where sex offenders can live are counterproductive and calling the nearly $25 million a year spent to house them a poor use of taxpayers’ money.”

The residency restrictions, “passed by voters more than two years ago in Proposition 83, have never been shown to prevent new crimes and may reduce public safety, the panel says.”

Click here to continue reading the article.

State spends millions on rents for paroled sex offenders, sometimes illegally

John Simerman, a journalist with the Mercury News reported last week that “state corrections officials spent nearly $22 million last year on apartments and motel rooms for hundreds of paroled sex offenders, paying more than $2,000 a month for some parolees and housing others in locations apparently prohibited under Jessica’s Law, according to a MediaNews analysis of bank drafts issued by parole agents and addresses from the Megan’s Law sex offender database.”

Click here to continue reading.

Editorial: Revisit Jessica’s Law

Of all the ill-considered ballot initiatives approved by California voters over the years, few can match Jessica’s Law for sheer self-destructiveness. The measure, billed as a way to protect children from sexual predators when it appeared on the ballot in 2006 as Proposition 83, is worsening the yawning state budget gap amid zero evidence that it’s protecting anyone — in fact, according to a state panel, it may be threatening public safety.

Click here to continue reading.

The number of sex offenders in California is constantly changing, but the general trends are often surprising for those who are new to the field. In this talk, Suzanne Brown-McBride discusses a few categories of offenders, how many there are and those who are under supervision.

Michael Rothfeld, a journalist with the LA Times, reported this morning that “a state panel is urging the governor and legislators to change ‘Jessica’s Law,’ saying its restrictions on where sex offenders can live are counterproductive and calling the nearly $25 million a year spent to house them a poor use of taxpayers’ money.”

The residency restrictions, “passed by voters more than two years ago in Proposition 83, have never been shown to prevent new crimes and may reduce public safety, the panel says.”

Click here to continue reading the article.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger “announced today that California has now fitted each of the state’s 6,622 paroled sex offenders wtih an ankle bracelet that transmits their location via GPS.”

Jessica’s Law, otherwise know as Proposition 83, mandated that all paroled sex offenders wear GPS units. Schwarzenegger’s office said the ankle fittings were completed six months ahead of schedule. Schwarzenegger also said:

Having a GPS device on every sex offender parolee in California is an important public safety tool that will hold these individuals accountable for their actions and whereabouts. Protecting our children and families from sexual predators is a priority, and with a GPS device on every sex offender on parole and parole agents monitoring these offenders aggressively, we will make our communities safer.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported today that the Fourth Court of Appeal in Santa Ana issued a ruling on Proposition 83, Jessica’s Law. The ruling is a first “by a California court to find that the residency restrictions in Proposition 83, a November 2006 initiative, are not just public safety measures but also would punish ex-offenders by forcing them out of their homes.” In addition, the court said Jessica’s Law imposes “traditional banishment under another name.”

The court’s ruling will leave the law in effect, but “could limit its application. The U.S. Constitution forbids laws that retroactively impose criminal penalties or increase punishment for past offenses.”

Jessica’s Law, is a “voter-approved law prohibiting sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or a park amounts to additional punishment for the offenders’ original crimes, a state appeals court has ruled in a case that could affect thousands of parolees.”

Click here to read the full article.

The Contra Costa Times reported yesterday that state officials “set new rules concerning where homeless parolees can stay and for how long.”

The new policy, sent in a memo to parole agents statewide, bars sex offenders who register as transients from staying at any address more than two hours — or the time it takes to charge their GPS anklets — except for work, business or government reasons or for care or treatment services…

…The policy, which takes effect immediately, mirrors one the state Department of Corrections issued in July, then quickly rescinded after legal questions arose. It comes as the number of transient sex offenders steadily rises two years after voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 83. As of last week, nearly 1,300 paroled sex offenders in California are registered transient, according to the agency.

Corrections officials said that many homeless sex offenders “bounce between motels and other places that fall within the banned zones.”  Jessica’s law requires offenders to wear GPS anklets for tracking purposes. In addition, the law “allows cities to craft tighter restrictions on where registered sex offenders can live, and some have responded with laws further limiting the housing options — increasing the number of transient offenders.”

Click here to read the full article.

Earlier this week, the “Carson City Council unanimously passed an urgency ordinance to allow only one sex offender per dwelling.”

Jessica’s Law, allows up to “12 sex offenders to live in one dwelling at least 2,000 feet from parks and schools.” Some community members have told officials that this is too close to their homes.

Sergio and Reina Larranaga bring their children to Dominguez Park, which is a centerpiece of their community. The park rests on the edge of Carson and Long Beach. However, less than a mile away, on Harrison Street, sits a duplex occupied by 12 sex offenders.

Sergio Larranga expressed his concerns about sex offenders living in his neighborhood:

“Don’t come into the neighborhood. Don’t shop here, don’t walk through here, don’t catch the bus right here … catch it somewhere else.”

Click here to watch the television segment.

ABC’s Fresno affiliate recently reported that, “Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer believes Jessica’s law…is not tracking or keeping dangerous sex offenders in custody as it was meant to do. The reasons are complicated by time, money, the legal system and the increase in the numbers of sex offenders in and out of custody.”

Chief Dyer said he wants to see more sexually violent predators given civil commitments:

“We have a state hospital right here in Fresno County that is not full to capacity; however, there are individuals who should in fact be in that facility today.”

Click here to continue reading the article.

Week of Aug 11

LA Times: “Jessica’s Law may not be hospitalizing more post-prison sex offenders”

The Los Angeles Times reported last week that ” Jessica’s Law may be failing to deliver on its promise — and in some respects producing the opposite of its intended effects.”

The Times investigation indicated, that “the law has led far more sexual offenders to be evaluated and recommended for indefinite hospitalization after their prison terms end. But the number of commitments has barely budged.”

Click here to continue reading.

Ex-CHP officer gets probation for molesting girls

The Associated Press reported last week, that an “ex-California Highway Patrol officer has been placed on three years’ probation for molesting 13- and 14-year-old girls in his Salinas home.”

Editorials:

Broken Justice in Indian Country
By N. BRUCE DUTHU

One in three American Indian women will be raped in their lifetimes, statistics gathered by the United States Department of Justice show. But the odds of the crimes against them ever being prosecuted are low, largely because of the complex jurisdictional rules that operate on Indian lands. Approximately 275 Indian tribes have their own court systems, but federal law forbids them to prosecute non-Indians. Cases involving non-Indian offenders must be referred to federal or state prosecutors, who often lack the time and resources to pursue them.

Click here to continue reading the editorial.

Editorial: Jessica’s Law is an expensive failure

By now, it should be apparent that California voters made a serious mistake when they passed Proposition 83, the 2006 ballot initiative popularly known as Jessica’s Law.

The law requires lifetime monitoring of sex offenders – not only those charged with child sexual abuse and rapists whose victims were adults, but also those convicted of consensual sex with a teenager and even misdemeanor indecent exposure. It bars offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park.

Click here to continue reading the article.

The LA Times reported over the weekend, that “Jessica’s Law may be failing to deliver on its promise — and in some respects producing the opposite of its intended effects.”

As a Times investigation reported Sunday, the law has led far more sexual offenders to be evaluated and recommended for indefinite hospitalization after their prison terms end. But the number of commitments has barely budged.

In the 18 months after Jessica’s Law took effect, only 42 of 67 defendants in civil commitment trials — 63% — were sent to hospitals, compared with 41 of 51 — 80% — before the law.

Click here to continue reading the article.

Week of Aug 4th

Expert Panel on Sexual Assault in the Military

Last week, the California Legislative Women’s Caucus, in conjunction with the California Veteran’s Affairs Committees, heard testimony from an expert panel on sexual assault in the military.

A variety of organizations testified at the hearing:

• Robert Coombs, CALCASA
• Ann McCarty, North County Rape Crisis and Child Protection Center
• Chief Bob May, California National Guard
• Major Eric Fry, California National Guard
• Piedad Garcia, Ed.D., San Diego Department of Mental Health
• Tia Christopher, Iraq Veteran Project Program Associate

Topics covered included: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), military sexual trauma (MST), services being provided to women veterans with PTSD and MST, successful models for mental health for women with PTSD and MST, among a variety of other issues.

Click here to learn more.

Navy vet tells story of rape, its scars

In the seven years since she was raped by a fellow sailor, Navy veteran Tia Christopher hasn’t gone a single night without a sleeping aid.

She battles a drinking problem. Her panic attacks are so intense she bears scars from digging her nails into her fingers to try to calm herself.

On Tuesday, Christopher came to the Capitol to convince lawmakers that California government and its 58 counties must play a role in addressing post- traumatic stress of increasing numbers of female soldiers, sailors and Marines.

She stirred a hearing by California Legislative Women’s Caucus with her account of getting raped and feeling so fearful for her Navy career that she “destroyed the evidence and bleached the sheets as I cried in the shower.”

Click here to continue reading.

“Governor won’t sign bills until he gets budget”

On Wednesday Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he will “veto any bill that comes to his desk until lawmakers pass a state budget.”

The Governor indicated there are 13 bills awaiting his signature. But, “he will allow the authors of those bills to pull them back, thus avoiding a veto.”

Click here to learn more about the bills.

For more information on the budget, you can read these articles:

• Republican leader: Democrats stalling on budget
• Legislators work on bills but not budget
• Governor proposes one-cent sales tax increase
• El Monte tightens limits on sex offenders

El Monte tightens limits on sex offenders

Local officials are further limiting where high-risk sex offenders can live in the city. The City Council unanimously approved an ordinance that prohibits the city’s sex offenders from living in motels and too close to child care facilities.

“There are very small portions in the city where they can now reside,” said Jim Beres, the city’s neighborhood services manager.

OpEd’s

Sexual Assault in the Military: Looking for a Few Good Change
by Merle Wilberding

More than six months have passed since the charred bodies of Lance Corporal Maria Lauterbach and her unborn child were found buried in a shallow fire pit in the backyard of fellow Marine Corporal Cesar Laurean. Maria had been missing for four weeks from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, where she was stationed.

DoD Shirks Congressional Oversight of Sexual Assault in the Military
by Rep. Louise Slaughter

Last Thursday, I gave testimony on sexual assault in the military at a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee oversight hearing. Kaye Whitley, director of the Department’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, had been subpoenaed to testify at Thursday’s hearing, but apparently Department of Defense officials instructed her to stay away from the hearing.

Week of July 28th

LA Times: “State legislators meet but make no progress on budget”

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders “convened Sunday night in hopes of ending a budget stalemate that is entering its sixth week, but they made no progress and dispersed after less than two hours, according to several participants.”

Oversight Hearing on Sexual Assault in the Military

Last week, the House held a hearing on sexual assault in the military.

Rep. Louise Slaughter reintroduced the Military Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Act. The act would “establish an Office of Victims Advocate (OVA) within DoD, bring the Family Advocacy Program under OVA, and create a Director of OVA to oversee and coordinate efforts to prevent and respond to cases of family violence, domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking within the military and among military families.”

For more on the hearing, see:

• Sexual assault in military ‘jaw-dropping,’ lawmaker says
• House hears testimony on military sexual assault
• Congress Hears Voices of Sexual Assault Survivors in Military

Bill would require paid sick days for most

As many as 5.4 million working Californians don’t get any paid sick days – and they tend to be both sicker and poorer than employees who do receive sick leave, according to a report released Wednesday.

Officials monitor transient sex offenders

The Contra Costa Times reported last week that, “Voters said paroled sex offenders cannot live near a school or park, so more are saying they don’t live anywhere while bouncing from place to place to avoid the tight living restrictions of Jessica’s Law.”

The state is planning on barring “those ‘transient’ sex offenders from staying at any address for more than a few hours, while allowing them to settle in homeless camps, under bridges or at bus stops, including those near schools or parks.”

from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR)

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), announced yesterday that they have “completed placing every High Risk Sex Offender parolee on GPS monitoring.”

Scott Kernan, Chief Deputy Secretary of Adult Operations for CDCR, said:

“This is a significant accomplishment and shows that we are on track in implementing the GPS requirements mandated by Jessica’s Law. Our parole agents are working aggressively to increase public safety, and this is a major step for us to monitor those sex offenders deemed high risk to re-offend.”

Passed by California voters in 2006, Proposition 83 – also known as Jessica’s Law – requires that every paroled sex offender be monitored by GPS. With limited amounts of GPS units, CDCR has prioritized the approximately 2,500 of its high-risk sex offender population on parole to be equipped with ankle monitors.

At any given time, California has nearly 9,000 sex offenders on parole supervision by CDCR. In addition to the high-risk population, CDCR has equipped 2,300 non high-risk sex offenders with GPS, bringing the total of sex offenders on GPS in California to 4,800. That is nearly triple the 1,800 GPS units currently used by Florida, the second leading state to use the devices.

CDCR is scheduled to have the entire sex offender parolee population on GPS monitoring devices by June 2009. Division of Adult Parole Office Director Tom Hoffman, said:

Not only do we monitor these individuals by GPS, we have put them on reduced caseloads so that our parole agents can focus on keeping track of this population. Our parole agents are out there every day doing their best to monitor these individuals to prevent them from re-offending.

Managing sex offender issues has been a priority for the department. In 2006, the CDCR developed and implemented significant notification procedures to local law enforcement agencies prior to the release of a sex offender parolee to their county. The department also works continuously to improve its policies on managing sex offenders, including implementing the life-time GPS monitoring required by Jessica’s Law. CDCR frequently seeks input from the California Sex Offender Management Board (SOMB), which was created in 2006 to advise the Legislature, the Governor and the CDCR in developing sound policy and recommendations on sex offender management.

For more information on GPS monitoring and Jessica’s Law, visit the CDCR web site at http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/.

Week of March 24th

CALCASA Testifies for Several Bills

There is no shortage of bills in the California Legislature that affect CALCASA’s members. Tuesday in both Assembly and Senate Public Safety Committees and the Senate Judiciary Committee, CALCASA testified on a variety of legislation related to sexual violence.

Click here to continue reading.

Calif. bills target loopholes for teachers accused of sex abuse

SACRAMENTO—A state Senate committee on Wednesday approved legislation that would allow California to automatically suspend teachers’ credentials when they have been convicted of a sex offense or other serious crime in another state.

Sex-Abuse Survivors Urge Each Other to Speak Out

(WOMENSENEWS)–On April 29, a day that the mayor of Asheville, N.C., has declared “Angela Shelton Day,” the filmmaker and actress will report her father’s abuse of her as a child online and to police.

Cities modify Jessica’s Law even as court mulls validity

As the state Supreme Court considers the validity of California’s sex-offender statute, known as Jessica’s Law, San Diego and other cities are passing tougher versions of it.

Sovereignty issues plague Adam Walsh Act

…But in Indian country, according to accounts that have emerged from multiple sources over several years, the aftershock is often complicated by practical unpreparedness on the part of health care providers, jurisdictional limitations on police, and off-reservation doubts about the validity of referrals from tribal court and legal systems.

Click here to continue reading.

Week of March 17th

US Senate Votes to Increase Funding for Programs Under Violence Against Women Act

The US Senate passed an amendment to the FY 2009 Budget to increase funding for the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) programs on March 13. Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware introduced the amendment that would increase funding to VAWA programs by $100 million. President Bush’s proposed FY 2009 budget would have cut funding to VAWA by $120 million.

Assemblyman honors head of San Joaquin Rape Crisis Center

Joelle Gomez has been named 2008 Woman of the Year for the 26th Assembly District by Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian, R-Stockton.

The center’s board members said that, Gomez, director of the Women’s Center of San Joaquin County, has been instrumental in the center’s growth and has been actively involved in strengthening domestic violence laws.

Click here to continue reading.

New National Action Agenda on Anti-Trafficking Activism

from The National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum

The National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) announces its publication of Rights to Survival & Mobility: An Anti-Trafficking Activist’s Agenda, a new report highlighting the disproportionate impact of human trafficking on asian and pacific Islander women and girls. Human trafficking is the third most profitable underground enterprise, rivaling the drug and arms trade. The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that the largest group of persons trafficked into the U.S. are from East Asia and the pacific.

Click here to continue reading.

Military Women Report Harassment

WASHINGTON (AP) — One-third of women in the military and 6 percent of men said they were sexually harassed, according to the latest Pentagon survey on the issue.

The figure for women was worse than the previous finding several years ago but better than a similar survey taken in 1995, the Defense Department said in a report Friday. The Defense Manpower Data Center said it compiled the data from a survey of 24,000 people in 2006.

NBC 11 Investigation: “Is Jessica’s Law Working?”

NBC 11 recently investigated Jessica’s Law. During the segment, the reporter discussed the unintended consequences of Jessica’s Law and the California Sex Offender Management Boards recently released report.

Click here to watch the segment.

States grapple with sex offender records

USA Today - A growing number of states are trying to sort out the question of who is responsible for disclosing the presence of sex predators in a neighborhood to potential home buyers.

State spends $24 million to classify sex offenders

SACRAMENTO – Jessica’s Law is requiring the state to spend an extra $24 million this year evaluating sex offenders for the sexually violent predator program, which confines offenders to a mental hospital after their prison terms.

Long Beach passes sex offender rules

The City Council gave unanimous final approval Tuesday to a new law restricting where registered sex offenders may live, but City Prosecutor Thomas Reeves told the council that enforcing it may be difficult.

The new ordinance, which the council initially approved last week, has been slightly rewritten by the City Attorney’s Office. Reeves said he had expressed his concerns to the City Attorney’s Office, but that the changes that had been made weren’t sufficient.

Sex offender alert aids county areas

Do you know where your neighborhood’s sex offenders are? Thanks to a new e-mail notification system, residents of unincorporated Monterey County can know instantly when a released sex offender has moved into their community.

On Monday afternoon, the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office unveiled its “OffenderWatch” online database at 1414 Natividad Road in Salinas.

OpEd

Unclustered offenders

Will sex offenders be better off living away from each other than in a cluster? That’s the wrong question. The right question is whether the neighborhood would be better off.

It wouldn’t. The Long Beach City Council affirmed that by voting last week to forbid paroled sex offenders from clustering in a single building. That’s a good rule, for offenders as well.

Click here to continue reading.

NBC 11 recently investigated Jessica’s Law. During the segment, the reporter discussed the unintended consequences of Jessica’s Law and the California Sex Offender Management Boards recently released report.

Click here to watch the segment.

Week of March 10th

Sex offenders’ parole could be shortened

A law aimed at protecting children from child molesters could make it easier for high-risk sex offenders to reduce the length of their parole term.

Jessica’s Law, approved by voters as Proposition 83 in 2006, increases sentences for sex crimes and imposes lifetime electronic monitoring and tough residency restrictions on tens of thousands of convicted sex offenders.

Kern County looks to expand Jessica’s Law

A new ordinance will be introduced to the Board of Supervisors which will expand Jessica’s Law here in the county to limit where sex offenders can live. 29 Eyewitness news recently discovered the El Don Motel at 800 South Union Ave would be housing around 15 paroled sex offenders.

LexisNexis Risk & Information Analytics Group Launches Solution For Law Enforcement to Proactively Monitor Sex Offenders Across Jurisdictions

LexisNexis Risk & Information Analytics Group announced the release of Sex Offender Alerts, a solution that provides law enforcement officials with automated notification of the location of sex offenders, especially as they move from one law enforcement jurisdiction to another. The Alerts solution supports law enforcement agencies’ efforts to enforce the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, a law that mandates strict registration requirements for sex offenders.

Do Sex Offender Registration and Notification Laws Affect Criminal Behavior?

In recent decades, sex offenders have been the targets of some of the most far-reaching and novel crime legislation in the U.S. Two key innovations have been registration and notification laws which, respectively, require that convicted sex offenders provide valid contact information to law enforcement authorities, and that information on sex offenders be made public. Using detailed information on the timing and scope of changes in state law, we study how registration and notification affect the frequency of sex offenses and the incidence of offenses across victims, and check for any change in police response to reported crimes.

Click here to continue reading the working paper.

New Data On Effectiveness Of Megan’s Law Sex Offender Community Notification

Sex offender community notification laws – sometimes known as Megan’s Laws – have been a popular way for legislators to establish their anti-crime bona fides. We’ve known that these laws have a disparate impact on people of color. To date, though, there has been little data on their efficacy. Legislators and activists argued that these laws would help prevent recividism – both because it would scare offenders and empower potential victims and families to protect themselves.

OpEds

Sex offender law is making them more dangerous

Jessica’s law, the initiative voters approved as Proposition 83 in 2006, severely restricts where sex offenders can live and requires that they be monitored with global positioning devices for life. But the law is not working as intended. In fact, members of an expert panel assembled to monitor the law say it may be increasing the danger that sex offenders pose to the public.

Should sex offenders have special license plates?

A bill that proposes forcing sex offenders to have specialized license plates identifying them has been set in motion by Sen. Abel Maldonado.

Mark Lunsford and his attorneys were in Jacksonville yesterday to discuss “their reasoning to sue the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and the Citrus County Commission for negligence in the search for Jessica Lunsford.”

After the Jacksonville news conference, Citrus County Sheriff Dawsysaid the allegations are “baseless and absurd,” and said there was no negligence by his or any other law enforcement agency in the Jessica Lunsford case.

Click here to continue reading the article.

Dr. Tom Tobin, Vice Chair of the Sex Offender Management Board, was on NPR’s All Things Considered last week. During the segment, Dr. Tobin discussed the unintended consequences of Jessica’s Law.

On the issue of sex offender transience, he states: “I would rather know where a sex offender lives and be able to find him when I need to, than having him homeless and transient and having no idea where he is.”

He goes on to discuss the research indicating the factors related to homelessness that also increase the risk of recidivism. “Those factors that have been identified have to do with a failure of an individual’s support systems, an emotional melt down – feelings of intense depression or anger – and increased use of alcohol or other drugs. I think common sense would tell us that it is more likely to effect someone in a negative way.”

Click here to listen to the whole interview.

Bill Ainsworth recently completed a special report for the San Diego Tribune on Jessica’s Law. He emphasized:

“A new law aimed at protecting children by imposing tough residency restrictions and lifetime electronic monitoring of sex offenders has failed to deliver on its promise and could be making the state less safe.”

Click here to read the full article.

CBS San Deigo recently covered the status of Jessica’s Law implementation. The story aired on Monday and the CBS correspondent noted that while parole is enforcing residency restrictions, probations (under direction from local District Attorney’s office) is electing to hold off until a court decision mandates implementation.

In the effort to covey the gaps of implementation, CBS interviewed Jessica’s Law supporter Bonnie Dumanis and the Executive Director of the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA), Suzanne Brown-McBride.

Victim Advocate, Brown-McBride emphasized:

“It’s better to know where an offender lives and that they have a stable residence than to have them wandering around homeless, transient and unsupervised…

The point of these laws is not to just make the community feel safe, to make them feel like they have residency restrictions, therefore they’re safe, GPS to make them feel like they’re safe. But to actually make them safe.”

Whereas, Dumanis is quoted as saying:

“As you know, the law is in flux. It’s confusing at this moment,” District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said.

Dumanis strongly supports Jessica’s Law. She points out the law’s increased prison sentences remain in full force.

“Jessica’s Law is working, it’s working well,” she said. “There are some issues we need to address, and with anything we need to discuss it, reflect on it and if there are things that need to be changed, then we should change it.”

Click here to read the story.

The News Hour with Jim Lehrer recently aired a segment on sex offender laws. The segment emphasized that, “Twenty-two states have laws that restrict where convicted sex offenders may live and, in some cases, how they interact with the community after they are released from prison. Jeffrey Kaye reports on the laws and the constitutional questions they’ve raised.”

Click here to view the television segment.

Below is the transcript from the television segment.

JIM LEHRER: Next, restricting where sex offenders can live. NewsHour correspondent Jeffrey Kaye of KCET-Los Angeles reports on California’s laws.

JEFFREY KAYE, NewsHour Correspondent: On a recent Friday afternoon, California parole agents arrived at the Long Beach apartment of a former prison inmate who had done time for attempting to molest children.

POLICE OFFICER: Your stuff is over here?

SEX OFFENDER PAROLEE: Yes.

JEFFREY KAYE: The agents came to make sure the parolee, who asked not to be identified, was moving out of his apartment. If he didn’t, he’d be arrested.

POLICE OFFICER: You know Monday’s our deadline. I mean, you have to move by Monday.

JEFFREY KAYE: The agents were enforcing a new California law that restricts where paroled sex offenders may live.

Approved as a 2006 ballot proposition by 70 percent of voters, the statute also requires released sex offenders to wear tracking devices for life.

And it allows prosecutors, such as San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, to obtain tougher penalties and much longer prison sentences for sex offenders.

BONNIE DUMANIS, San Diego County District Attorney: I’ve seen the devastation that happens with children who are the victims of molest.

JEFFREY KAYE: Dumanis campaigned for the California law, arguing it was needed to protect the state’s children.

BONNIE DUMANIS: There were loopholes in the law. California was one of the weakest in terms of the law. There were many other states that were ahead of us. And we felt it was important to protect the kids in our community from being victimized over and over again.

Some places that are motels that I know are in compliance–if they’re not filled up, I can try to give him cash assistance to put him in one of those places. If they’re filled up, my hands are tied.

Problems of compliance

JEFFREY KAYE: The California statute and similar ones elsewhere are commonly known as Jessica’s Law, named for Jessica Lunsford, a 9-year-old Florida girl who was kidnapped, raped, and murdered in 2005 by a registered sex offender who had been paroled in 1980.

Around the country, 22 states have residency restrictions for sex offenders, as do hundreds of municipalities and counties, provisions that are turning out to be controversial and often difficult to enforce.

In California, sex offenders are now prohibited from living within 2,000 feet of parks and schools. Parole agents Price and Gibson — they asked us not to use their first names — use hand-held satellite tracking devices to measure distances.

POLICE OFFICER: … 220 yards.

JEFFREY KAYE: The agents determined the parolee had to move. He was living too close to a Long Beach park.

It’s Friday. You have to be out by Monday. You can’t live here anymore. What are you going to do?

SEX OFFENDER PAROLEE: I don’t know. I’m going to have to prevail upon my parole agent for assistance.

JEFFREY KAYE: What can you do for him?

P. PRICE, PAROLE AGENT: Some places that are motels that I know are in compliance, if they’re not filled up, I can try to give him cash assistance to put him in one of those places.

If they’re filled up, my hands are tied. In the past, I’ve told him areas that are in compliance, as far as apartment stuff, and he’s been looking in those areas, but so far he hasn’t got any place yet.

JEFFREY KAYE: This man isn’t alone. A survey in July showed some 2,100 California parolees were violating the new residency rules.

That’s largely because of sheer geography. In cities and suburbs, it’s almost impossible to find available homes that are not near parks or schools.

This map of the Long Beach region shows the difficulty. The red areas are where sex offenders released from prison since the adoption of Jessica’s Law may not live. What’s left are largely non-residential or industrial neighborhoods with few, if any, housing options.

In the parking lot of the state parole office in Long Beach, a sex offender approached us to complain he couldn’t find a place to move.

SEX OFFENDER PAROLEE: You know, the supervisor told me that I would get arrested if I’m close to a school. I don’t know what to do anymore; I don’t know what to do anymore.

JEFFREY KAYE: This man, a rapist who was convicted of drugging his victim, thought he might soon be homeless.

That’s what’s happened to other sex offenders, such as serial rapist Ross Wollschlager. Unable to find a place to live, the parolee now spends his nights camping in a riverbed north of Los Angeles.

The state keeps tabs on him through his satellite tracking device and pays a private security guard to watch him at night.

ROSS WOLLSCHLAGER, Convicted Rapist: I ended up being homeless, and came out here to the river bottom, and just looked for a place where I could camp a tent.

I don’t know what other options I have at the time. And I’m trying to do everything I can to at least find a safe place so I can stay and so the community won’t be so alarmed about my presence here.

Tracking offenders’ whereabouts

JEFFREY KAYE: It’s no surprise that sex offenders are critical of Jessica’s Law, but so, too, are many police officials and victims’ rights advocates.

SUZANNE BROWN-MCBRIDE, California Sex Offender Management Board: I can tell you that it hasn’t resolved the sex offender problem in California.

JEFFREY KAYE: Suzanne Brown-McBride is executive director of the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault, as well as the chairperson of the state board that shapes sex offender policies in California. She fears residency restrictions are backfiring and driving sex offenders off the radar screen.

SUZANNE BROWN-MCBRIDE: So you go from a place where you have an offender where you know where they live, you know where they’re sleeping, you can check up on them and monitor them, to they’re transient and you have only really a guess of where they’re at, that they may be down at some different part of the city, they may be down in an alley somewhere.

So you go from a known quantity to, quite honestly, a fairly unknown one.

JEFFREY KAYE: That was the experience in Iowa, according to Elizabeth Barnhill, executive director of the Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault. She says that, after Iowa passed its version of Jessica’s Law in 2005, many sex offenders disappeared from the system.

ELIZABETH BARNHILL, Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault: We found they were living in very unstable situations. So at one point when I reviewed our sex offender registry, I found things like, “I am living in an old truck parked at the abandoned K-Mart.” “I’m living in a truck down by the river.” “I’m living in the QuikTrip when everybody leaves for the night.”

So we know that those are very unstable conditions. And we know that there is a relationship between unstable living conditions and re-offending.

JEFFREY KAYE: Defenders of Jessica’s Law, such as District Attorney Dumanis, say authorities will know the exact whereabouts of sex offenders because of the satellite tracking devices they’re required to wear.

BONNIE DUMANIS: I call that the LoJack for sex offenders. If people become transient, we’re still going to be looking for them. We will be watching them to make sure that they don’t prey on children again.

P. PRICE: We strap it to the left ankle of the parolee.

JEFFREY KAYE: For parole agent Price and his colleagues, the monitoring devices — known by their commercial name, BlueTags — have become essential tools.

P. PRICE: It tells me the last time he got positioned from a GPS. It tells me the latitude, longitude.

JEFFREY KAYE: But Price acknowledges that GPS, global positioning satellite technology, has its limits. While Price would not elaborate, Brown-McBride did.

SUZANNE BROWN-MCBRIDE: Well, people expect GPS to have almost a Star Trek-like technology, that we sort of know in very real time where people are moment to moment.

What I think the public doesn’t understand is that false alarms are common, dropping off of the map is fairly common, that we’re still trying to get the training for the folks who are doing this kind of supervision, that we still have shortages in personnel.

It’s progress, not perfection. The real intent of Jessica’s Law is to put people that violate children and others in prison.

Addressing misconceptions

JEFFREY KAYE: Brown-McBride and other critics like measures of Jessica’s Law also argue that they reinforce public misperceptions, namely, that most sex offenders are strangers who prowl public places and strike victims from out of the blue.

SUZANNE BROWN-MCBRIDE: About 90 percent of them have some sort of acquaintance with their offender, whether it be sort of a family friend, all the way to it’s a member of their own household. And so, when we ignore that, what we’ve done then is made massive commitments to policy options that address the narrowest set of circumstances.

JEFFREY KAYE: Defenders of the law say it’s too soon to draw conclusions.

BONNIE DUMANIS: Let’s see what happens so that we can see whether or not this is a problem. But I’m not ready to say the sky’s falling right now. We’ll take a look at it.

You know, it’s progress, not perfection. The real intent of Jessica’s Law is to put people that violate children and others in prison.

JEFFREY KAYE: And keep them there?

BONNIE DUMANIS: And keep them there.

POLICE OFFICER: Can you show me your stuff, show me your area?

JEFFREY KAYE: As for the sex offender we met in his Long Beach apartment, he couldn’t find a new residence in time to comply with Jessica’s Law. He’s now back in prison for at least three months.

John Simerman reported today that Jessica’s law “has forced many paroled sex offenders into homelessness, made residential treatment facilities off-limits and threatened to steer police assets away from the most dangerous sex criminals, according to testimony Monday before a state panel.”

The California Sex Offender Management Board (CASOMB) held their first public hearing at City Hall in San Francisco, yesterday. The hearing is the first of “three across the state this week at which law enforcement, treatment providers and the public can lodge their concerns over Proposition 83. ”

CASOMB is expected to recommend changes this month in a report to the Legislature.

Board Chairwoman Suzanne Brown-McBride said some changes could come in regulations, others in legislation. Meanwhile, the state is fighting legal challenges to the law, which 70 percent of voters backed.

The panel meets again today in Bakersfield and Wednesday in San Bernardino.

ABC&NEWS did a brief television segment yesterday on Jessica’s Law.

The segment emphasized that “San Francisco’s paroled sex offenders are having trouble complying with a law that says they can’t live in places that are close to children. So, some offenders are now claiming they are homeless to get around the law.”

Click here to view the segment.

KFSN-TV did a brief television segment this week on Jessica’s Law.

The segment emphasized that, “Some top law officers say it may be too costly and complex. Richard Word is Vacaville Police Chief and president of the California Police Chief’s Association.”

He says the cost of monitoring an offender is expensive. “Some jurisdictions can’t afford to do that,” said Richard Word.

Click here to view the segment.

By Michael Rothfeld, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
November 27, 2007

Law enforcement leaders who pushed for a ballot initiative requiring sex offenders in California to be tracked by satellite for life are now saying that the sweeping surveillance program voters endorsed is not feasible and is unlikely to be fully implemented for years, if ever.

Under the measure, approved overwhelmingly a year ago, sex offenders must be strapped with global positioning system devices that can record their whereabouts even after they finish parole and leave the criminal justice system.

Click here to continue reading the article.

By GREG BLUESTEIN, AP

Georgia’s top court overturned a state law Wednesday that banned registered sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of schools, churches and other areas where children congregate.

“It is apparent that there is no place in Georgia where a registered sex offender can live without being continually at risk of being ejected,” read the unanimous opinion, written by presiding Justice Carol Hunstein.

The law had been targeted by civil rights groups who argued it would render vast residential areas off-limits to Georgia’s roughly 11,000 registered sex offenders and could backfire by encouraging offenders to stop reporting their whereabouts to authorities.

State lawmakers adopted the law in 2006, calling it crucial to protecting the state’s most vulnerable population: children.

Georgia’s law, which took effect last year, prohibited them from living, working or loitering within 1,000 feet of just about anywhere children gather _ schools, churches, parks, gyms, swimming pools or one of the state’s 150,000 school bus stops.

It also led to challenges from groups like the Southern Center for Human Rights, which argued that it would force some offenders to live in their cars or set up tents or trailers in the woods, and undermine other efforts to keep track of offenders.

The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Jerry Keen, said the court “superseded both the legislative and executive branches of government, and therefore the will of the people of Georgia.”

He said state lawmakers could take up the issue again when they reconvene in January.

“In the meantime, convicted felony sex offenders will be allowed to live next door to day care centers, school bus stops, or anywhere else they choose,” the Republican lawmaker said.

Sarah Geraghty, an attorney with the Southern Center for Human Rights, praised the decision.

“It’s a strongly worded ruling that says we value property rights in this state and you can’t just take them away,” she said.

Twenty-two states have distance restrictions varying from 500 feet to 2,000 feet, according to researchers. But most impose the offender-free zones only around schools, and several apply only to child molesters, not all sex offenders.

The Georgia Supreme Court ruling said even sex offenders who comply with the law “face the possibility of being repeatedly uprooted and forced to abandon homes.” It noted that the offender would be in violation of the law whenever someone opts to open a school, church or other facility serving children near the offender’s home.

The court also said the statute looms over every location that a sex offender chooses to call home and notes while the case in question particularly involves a day care center, “next time it could be a playground, a school bus stop, a skating rink or a church.”

Provisions that also ban sex offenders from loitering and working within 1,000 feet of those places were not reversed.

A judge ruled last year that the law’s school bus stop provision could not be enforced unless school boards officially designated the stops. Few boards have since done so.

Last week, James Tilton, Secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation delivered a letter (….Secretary Tilton’s Letter to SOMB….) to Suzanne Brown-McBride Executive Director of CALCASA and the Chair of the California Sex Offender Management Board requesting the board’s assistance and recommendations related to the implementation of Jessica’s Law (Proposition 83). Specifically the Secretary requested that the board examine:

~Residency restrictions and appropriate offender housing.
~Clarifying distance restrictions from locations where children congregate.
~Global Positioning System (GPS) monitoring and offender supervision.
~Maintaining supervision of Jessica’s Law sex offenders once they complete their parole term and are no longer under the jurisdiction of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR).
~Sexually violent predator civil commitment.
~Community education and public understanding of Jessica’s Law.

The Board looks forward to working with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to identify sex offender management strategies that are consistent with the mission and vision of the California Sex Offender Management Board:

Vision
The vision of the CA SOMB is to decrease sexual victimization and increase community safety.

Mission
This vision will be accomplished by addressing issues, concerns, and problems related to community management of adult sexual offenders by identifying and developing recommendations to improve policies and practices.