The County of Orange ordinance that bars registered sex offenders from entering county parks and recreational areas has been ruled unlawful, according to a decision issued Nov. 15 by a panel of three Superior Court judges. The unanimous ruling does not apply to the ordinances several Orange County cities adopted at the urging of county Supervisor Shawn Nelson and District Attorney Tony Rackauckas, who authored the original county version the Board of Supervisors approved in April 2011. Full Article
Orange County Pervs-in-Parks Ban Violates State Constitution: Judicial Panel
[UPDATED with OCDA Reaction:] See the update at the end of this post with the district attorney’s reaction to the judicial panel’s decision and vow to continue fighting for the ordinance.
It may very well be that the supervisor and others who proposed this and other laws have a genuine interest in protecting the public. I don’t know their intent. What I do know is that there are a lot of experts in Orange County and the rest of the country who work with this offender population, who are familiar with the research, with the population, and have great ideas, well thought out and research-supported that would reduce the risk to the public. Many have offered to give input, consult with officials, and provide learned guidance about these issues. Many of these professionals have spent 10, 20 or more years studying this population alone. It is immoral, unethical, wrong, terrible, horrible governing on the part of elected officials to ignore these professionals, and to propose and pass laws about a population of citizens, apparently because it makes the official look good. I believe that this constitutes abuse of power, and should result in a recall of the elected officials.
http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2012/11/jean_pierre_nguyen_jail_senten.php
Is the timing of this unfortunate or ironic?
Also see some of the other links in this article, pertaining to the Irvine election. Most interesting…
Very good news. The thought of banning someone from living in a certain area within a city, banning them from parks, libraries and what not is surreal. Can you imagine being convicted of a Sex Offense and being banned from going to the Ocean? Thats surreal and unheard of. I commend the Judges.
The Judges should be commended. Very good news. Banning someone from living in a certain area within a city is wrong. Many families would like their family member to live with them, to watch out for them, but because of registration they cannot do this. I believe a community is safer when someone has the support of family. Again, the three judges are intelligent, understanding, and deserve to be commended.
In essence, the ruling is certainly going to set California Up for something more. The bottom line is that you can’t put every Sex Offender in the same classification. THere are literally hundreds if not thousands of people convicted of Sex Crimes who do their time and go on to be model citizens without every having another legal issue in their lives. Yet, with have the DA in Orange County who in essence is passing hateful laws that are both unconstitutional and far fetched. Its truly surreal. This ruling along with others substantiates the need to develop and pass a Tier System here in California that would allow those individuals who have paid their debt to society to eventually get off the registry. ITS TIME. Wake up Tony!