| Sex
offender
defined |
JESSICA'S LAW BLATANTLY DISREGARDS THE UNITED STATES AND CALIFORNIA CONSTITUTIONS! IT IS CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT, AND IT CONTINUES TO PUNISH PEOPLE EVEN AFTER A SENTENCE HAS BEEN SERVED. IT IS DRIVEN BY FEAR-MONGERING, OPPORTUNISTIC POLITICIANS AND WILL DO NOTHING TO ACTUALLY PROTECT CHILDREN. THERE ARE ONE MILLION WOMEN AND CHILDREN WHOSE LIVES ARE INTER-TWINED WITH A SEX OFFENDER IN CALIFORNIA. THEY SHOULD MATTER TOO. FOLLOW THE MONEY TRAIL, PROP 83 IS ANOTHER CONVEYOR-BELT LAW TO BENEFIT LAW ENFORCEMENT. IT IS A ONE-SIZE-FITS ALL WAR ON THE PEOPLE THAT MUST NOT PASS! |
| Comparison
of Jessica's law
with Existing law |
Jessica's
law will place severe restrictions on the lifestyles of ALL
convicted sex offenders who have a PC
290 requirement to register with law enforcement in the community in
which they reside. This does not only include child molesters but any and
all sex offenders regardless of the offense and when it took place. The
two major restrictions are
1) ALL sex offenders must live 2000 feet away from any park, school or other areas the community deems necessary for the duration of their registration requirement, (which is usually for life). 2) ALL sex offenders must wear GPS ankle bracelets, not only for the duration of their parole (which will be increased to five and even 10 years) but for their ENTIRE LIVES! The sex offender is expected to pay for this device if he/she can afford it. 3) ALL sex offenders will be unable to earn good-time credits while in prison. They would have to serve the entire sentence regardless of their recovery and good behavior. There are many other stipulations within Jessica's law (e.g. increased prison terms) but these three conditions are exceptionally unjust, unwarranted and a big waste of resources. The law targets the mentally ill, their families and will ensnare teens, marking them for life with a red-letter punishment when they may not be a predator at all. Jessica's Law is the next war on the people. It will do nothing to protect children and will destroy more lives. |
| Sexual
Predator Defined NICA:
|
There
are many types of sex offenders; not all involve the forcible rape of young
children. In fact the current fear-mongering and political posturing taking
place right now is based on deceit. Candidates need the donations and endorsements
of law enforcement labor unions. These politicians know Jessica's Law will
produce a steady of flow of inmates to keep the over-crowded prison industry
booming.
They are pandering and using a very emotional subject to get themselves elected by the punishers' well-oiled voting machines. The truth is that more than 90% of sex offenses take place in families and child rape is almost always committed by someone the child knows.People have a bad habit of grouping all sex offenders as violent child molesters such as the one who murdered Jessica Lunsford in Florida. This just isn't so. The reality is, these types of sex offenders are extraordinary. The "snatch-and-run" type of sex offenses against a child are extremely rare, averaging about one per state per year. Compare that to 2,000 kids killed by drunk drivers. Jessica's Law will do nothing to prevent that and really does nothing to address the prevention of the mental illness that causes sex offenses. Many offenders were young (19-20 years old), and they had sexual relations with their 16-17 year old significant other. Others are accused as part of vicious child custody and divorce cases. In addition, there are offenses like indecent exposure and bigamy that are considered non violent. And there are many cases where the offender was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs; this would have the effect of lowering his/her inhibitions. One should never condone crimes of this type; but none of these offenses automatically makes a person a violent sexual predator. Yet they are caught up in the hysteria. |
|
Bureau of Justice Statistics |
Most offenders of
children DO NOT frequent schoolyards and playgrounds. 90%
of child victims knew their offender and almost half of those were family
members, i.e. the offenders had a trustful, nonviolent relationship with
the victim. How is a GPS ankle bracelet or the 2000 foot living requirement
going to prevent or even slow down offenses of this type? The answer is,
they won't. The living requirement will force thousands of people to be
relocated. Most of these people will be unable to afford that. For those
getting out of prison or on parole, The
California Department of Corrections(CDC) will have to pay for the
relocation. This money will ultimately come from YOU the taxpayer.
Additionally, many sex offenders would be forced to move into rural areas where job opportunities are very limited. Many will actually lose their jobs, be separated from their families including their children, and be stigmatized when they arrive in areas that don't want them anymore then the populated cities do. What we will finally end up with is an increased welfare expenditure because of lack of income, increased police involvement because of public confrontations and hostility, and possibly a greater incidence of crime and noncompliance due to stress and frustration. Not to mention suicide because the situation is so hopeless.
|
| Back
to the Community:
Safe and Sound Parole Policies |
A large number of
offenders who have not been convicted of a sex offense are commiting more
sex offenses then the smaller number of convicted sex offenders.
A study by the U.S. Department of Justice called, Recidivism of Sex Offenders Released From Prison in 1994 , supported the notion that there are more non-convicted sex offenders (meaning they went to prison for a non sexually related offense and once out did not fall under the doctrine of Jessica's law) out in the streets commiting sex offenses then released sex offenders.(See a synopsis on this report by Tom Watson in the news articles section of this web site.) The report stated that within three years of release the individual sex offender was four times more likely to commit a sex offense then the individual non-convicted sex offender. But out of 9,691 repeat sexual predators, 517 re-offended sexually (5.3%) and out of 262,420 non-convicted sex offenders 3,328 re-offended sexually(1.3%). 3,328 is much greater than 517 so despite the percentages there seems to be more non-convicted sex offenders commiting sex offenses.(In this example almost 85% more.) This means if the vast majority of sex offenses are being commited by people who are non-convicted sex offenders then the 2000 foot living restriction and the GPS ankle bracelets will have little affect on the amount of victimization; it is not justified spending hundreds of millions of dollars and destroying thousands of people's lives for the actions of a small number of repeat sexual predators who could be dealt with separately. Kern County has paid out $5 million in wrongful imprisonment lawsuits during the past few years after child molestation witch-hunts in the 80's sent people to life. Some people spent 20 or more years in prison before the children grew up and told the courts they were co-erced by prosecutors to lie. This horrible example is still happening even with existing sex offender laws which are extremely harsh. |
| About
Recidivism
New Hope
for
|
Treatment of sex
offenders is less costly then incarceration in prison and reduces recidivism.
Most people's first reaction to victimization is punishment regardless
of the offense. A sex offense, however, is without equal because of the
almost sacred attachment we have toward sexual encounters. If someone steals
from us or punches us we may feel hurt, but if that same person touches
us in an unwanted sexual manner, we feel more than hurt; we feel not only
violated but shocked, dazed and traumatized. To anybody who has experienced
such an offense, it is unforgettable. Our innocence as well as our trust
in other human beings goes astray. And this is exactly
why the first priority in any society should be to prevent these offenses
from happening in the first place! All the money spent on maintaining
the restrictions of Jessica's law would be better spent on prevention of
mental illness and substance abuses, more education and treatment.
People, at an early age need to be educated not only intellectually but empathically as well. Because there are no such curricula offered in grade schools, many young adolescents are committing sex offenses. Some teens are being ensnared by similar laws for having sex with others in their own age group. Other states are having terrible problems and trying to repeal similar laws they passed not realizing the resulting devastation. Your child is in much more danger of being wrongfully accused as a sex offender than they are of being molested by a stranger. All our forefathers would be considered sex offenders even under existing harsh laws as well as most seniors who married others under the age of 18. Think about that! The cost of supervision and treatment of a sex offender is approximately $5,000 to $15,000 per year while the average cost of incarcerating an offender is $22,000 a year not including treatment. Of course many offenders will go to prison, and at this time there are no treatment options while incarcerated. This is unfortunate because many studies have shown that treatment does reduce recidivism and thus reduces victimization. Providing treatment options in California prisons is far from impossible, but unfortunately that is not a priority with politicians taking money from law enforcement labor unions. Follow the money trail, those who are promoting Jessica's Law have often taken large donations or charged with sex offenses themselves. A sex offender can't get treatment until they are out of prison in most cases. And because they will not earn good-time credits under Jessica's law, they will have little motivation to change. The violent and predatory atmosphere of prison creates more crime and mental illness than it prevents. To reduce or better yet prevent recidivism offenders need to learn about proper sexual conduct, but they also need to learn how to adapt to society. After years in the hostile and unproductive atmosphere of prison this is more difficult and quality treatment is essential. Keep in mind, sex offenders have the lowest rate of recidivism when compared to all other crimes. This category of conviction is a favorite amongst prosecutors because it requires no physical evidence, no witnesses, no DNA, no actual proof to win a conviction. All that is required is the word of the victim. In many cases sex offenders are accused due to child custody diputes and nasty divorces. After all, who will stand up for a sex offender? It's an easy conviction. Most political prisoners are in for a sex offense for this reason. Every prisoner is some mother's child and many of them are innocent or guilty of a much lesser crime as there is no justice in the courts today. Destroying people for life is unChristian and unAmerican and does nothing to solve the problem of mental illness. In fact it endangers society to get caught up in this hysteria. |
| Detaining
"Sexual Predators"
in Mental Health System |
What
does all this mean? It means Jessica's law will not work!
It will add more problems to an already mismanaged criminal justice system.
Prisons are already overcrowded and cost a phenomenal amount of money to
operate. With public grade schools closing to save money should we build
anymore prisons? Should we hire thousands of personnel to monitor all 60000+
sex offenders? Should we break apart families and make people sell their
homes to accommodate the 2000 foot rule? This is cruel and unusual punishment
which is forbidden by both the US and California State Constitutions. It
is also an ex
post facto law since it further punishes people after they have already
served their time and paid their debt to society.
It will cost millions of dollars every year that could be used for much more productive agendas' such as prevention of mental illness and substance abuse, treatment, education and the improvement of the poor socioeconomic conditions that fuel disruptive behavior in the first place. But most importantly, this law will not appreciably reduce victimization. It is not enough to say, "Well some is better than none," or, " Let's see if it works," or, "It's better than nothing." This law will disrupt and destroy many people's lives who are not sexual predators and are not a danger to the community! People need to think long and hard about the consequences of this unconstitutional initiative. Public safety is important, but we can't let fearmongering and politically manufactured hysteria dictate our decisions to the point of ostracizing an entire group of people because of what a very small number of mentally ill offenders do. |
Lunsford's son sentenced in fondling case
An Ohio judge has ordered Mark Lunsford's son to undergo a sexual offender assessment, part of his sentence for fondling a 14-year-old Ohio girl. Joshua Lunsford was 18 when police accused him of twice fondling the girl. A police report listed them as romantically involved. The girl's mother told police she had told Lunsford several times to stay away from her daughter and threatened to press charges if he didn't. --By Times Staff Behind the backdrop of courtroom drama surrounding the trial of Jessica's killer was the sentencing of her brother for his sex 'crime'. Lunsford got 10 days jail, 1yr's probation and is required to undergo a sex offender assessment. No word on what is included in the assessment. Perhaps it's an exam to help the court determine if it's normal for teenage boys to have sexual encounters with teenage girls. A news release can be read over at the St. Petersburg Times.
|
The Shortsighted Scarlet Letter Approach to Sex Offenders
Civil Commitment Information Package - by Tom Watson
CCPOA
fought against Jessica's Law
Sacramento Bee No on Proposition 83