Proposed law toughens penalties for sex offenders

Tag: usa

By Ruby Gonzales

A bill that will send violent child molesters to prison for life after a first offense and increase sentences for various sex crimes against children is a step closer to becoming law.

The Senate passed Chelsea's Law on Tuesday. It needs to be approved by the Assembly before it heads to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's desk. The bill goes before the Assembly Sunday.

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The governor lauded legislators for their vote and said he will sign the bill, if passed by the Assembly. Once he does, it will take effect immediately.

"It's a huge step forward to protecting California's children," said the bill's author, Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, R-San Diego.

Chelsea's Law focuses on those who commit the most heinous sex offenses against children, according to Fletcher.

"The worst of the worst. Normal decent people don't molest children," Fletcher said.

Defendants face a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole if they commit rape, spousal rape, sodomy, lewd and lascivious acts, continuous sexual abuse, and oral copulation of a child 14 and younger under certain circumstances.

It must include one or more of these factors: the suspect has a prior sex offense conviction, committed the crimes during a burglary, used a weapon, kidnapped the victim, seriously injured the victim, tied up or drugged the victim.

Fletcher called the bill's passage a bittersweet victory. He said not a day goes by when he is not reminded of why it was proposed.

The legislation gets it name from Chelsea King of Poway, who disappeared Feb. 25 when she went jogging in Rancho Bernardo Community Park in San Diego.

On April 16, registered sex offender John Albert Gardner III pleaded guilty to raping and strangling the 17-year-old.

He also admitted to raping and fatally stabbing 14-year-old Amber Dubois on Feb. 13, 2009 and for trying to assault a jogger on Dec. 27, 2009. Dubois was walking to class at Escondido High when she went missing.

Gardner, 31, was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

He was previously convicted of beating and molesting a 13-year-old neighbor in 2000, a crime for which he served five years in prison before being paroled.

King's parents were involved with the bill that bears her name. Chelsea's Law has gone through amendments since it was first introduced. The version now is a much more comprehensive bill, according to Fletcher.

The bill would also:

place on lifetime parole habitual sex offenders, those convicted of kidnapping a child with the intent to commit a specified sexual offense and those convicted of certain sex crimes such as aggravated sexual assault of a child;

lengthens the time sex offenders will be on parole;

increases the prison sentences for forcible crimes against children under 14, like rape, sodomy, oral copulation and lewd act by force or fear;

makes it a misdemeanor for certain sex offenders on parole to enter parks frequented by children without permission from their parole agents;

also will require molesters on probation or parole to participate in an approved sex offender management program;

will lead to more offenders being tracked by GPS;

implements what is called a containment model approach to managing sex offenders. The model, which has long been proposed by the California Sex Offender Management Board, includes increased oversight, polygraph testing and psychological evaluations of sex offenders;

and provides funding for victims' services and outreach.

Robert Coombs, chairman of the advisory California Sex Offender Management Board, said the strongest part of the bill is the implementation of the containment model which has four components: law enforcement, victim services, sex offender treatment and polygraph testing.

"Everything we do in sex offender management is toward the goal of no more victims," Coombs said.

He said California is one of the last states that puts sex offenders in prison longer and where the offender doesn't get treated.

"We know these guys are coming back into the community. So why aren't we treating them before they go back to the community?" Coombs asked. "The containment model would actually address a great range of offenders we have in California."

The American Civil Liberties Union and the California Public Defenders Association oppose Chelsea's Law. Representatives for the two groups couldn't be reached for comment Friday.

According to an analysis of the bill, opponents argued that current law already imposes stiff penalties for the crimes the bill addresses and that the additional increases in prison sentences will exacerbate the already overcrowded prison system.

Chelsea's Law won't affect sex offenders already on parole or probation.

As of July 31, there are 133,764 inmates on parole in California, according to Terry Thornton, spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

She said 9,505 of those parolees are required to register as sex offenders, 6,489 of whom are wearing a GPS device.

The majority of these sex offenders on parole are in Los Angeles County.

Thornton said as of Aug. 26, the county has 2,812 parolees, of which 2,063 are deemed active. The others have yet to be paroled, are in custody or can't be found.

But that just represents offenders on parole.

Sgt. Richard Ruiz of the sheriff's Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement Team, said the total number of sex offenders in the the county is about 16,000.

"That's everybody combined. That includes parolees. We probably have 25 percent of the sex offenders in the state," Ruiz said.

He declined comment on the bill because he hasn't read it.

The team goes all over the county and does monthly sweeps of sex offenders to check if they are complying with the conditions of their parole or probation.

"A lot of the public don't understand the conditions of parole. People think sex offenders are on parole for life," Ruiz said.

Once a sex offender completes their probation and parole, they are not subject to search and seizure and must only register once a year with the local police department where they live.

If the offender is a transient, Ruiz said, he or she has to register every 30 days.

ruby.gonzales@sgvn.com

562-698-0955, ext. 3026

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