Attorney General Kamala Harris says she will not ask the Supreme Court to let California enforce a voter-approved law that would require more than 70,000 sex offenders to disclose their Internet identities to police, a decision that apparently means the law will not take effect. Full Article
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MURRIETA: Sex offender ‘safety zone’ ordinance repealed
They weren’t happy about it, but all five members of the Murrieta City Council voted this week in favor of repealing an ordinance that made it illegal for sex offenders to loiter near areas frequented by children. Full Article
Read MoreMURRIETA: City may repeal Child Safety Zone Ordinance
The Murrieta City Council this week will consider repealing an ordinance approved in 2009 that made it illegal for sex offenders to loiter within 300 feet of an area frequented by children: parks, arcades, swimming pools, skateboard parks, etc. Full Article
Read MoreSex-Offender Laws to Be Weakened
Prompted by two adverse appellate court decisions and a lawsuit springing from them, the board of supervisors on Tuesday gave tentative approval to amendments to the county code that would strike down certain provisions defining where registered sex offenders may visit when children are present. The changes, due for a final vote on Feb. 10, would repeal the so-called “presence” provisions in the county code, language that prevents sex offenders from being within 300 feet of various locations where children might congregate. Full Article
Read MoreAssembly Bill Would Authorize Cities, Counties to Adopt Presence Restrictions
Assemblyman William P. Brough introduced Assembly Bill 201 on January 29 that, if passed, would authorize cities and counties to pass laws that restrict where registered citizens may be present. Brough is a Republican member of the Assembly from Oange County. “This bill attempts to reverse decisions of the California Court of Appeal and Supreme Court made in 2014,” stated California RSOL President Janice Bellucci. “The bill would also reverse the positive results of lawsuits filed last year in federal district courts.” During 2014, a total of 26 lawsuits were…
Read MoreCA Supreme Court Decision Harms Registered Citizens
The California Supreme Court today, in a vote of 5 to 2, overturned a prior court decision (People v. Hofsheier (2006) 37 Cal.4th 1185) that provided relief in the recent past to many individuals convicted of oral copulation. In the decision, the court found that there is a “rational basis” for providing harsher penalties to such as an individual as compared to other individuals who convicted of unlawful intercourse. “Today’s decision by the California Supreme Court has the potential to harm hundreds if not thousands of individuals without increasing public…
Read MoreMore parole agent caseloads exceed limits under new sex offender rules
Since two sex offenders were charged with killing four women while under state and federal watch, California has changed how it supervises such parolees, increasing scrutiny of some and relaxing the monitoring of others. A Times analysis of state data shows that the number of parole agents with caseloads exceeding state limits has increased under the new system, further stretching California’s already strained ability to oversee freed sex offenders. Full Article
Read MoreCalifornia RSOL Successfully Lobbies Sacramento In Support of Tiered Registry
Twenty-three individuals, including six board members, lobbied in support of a tiered registry in Sacramento on January 27 and 28. Although a tiered registry bill has not yet been introduced, the lobbying effort focused upon the need for a tiered registry that would distinguish between and among those convicted of sex offenses during the registry’s 68 years of existence. Current law requires virtually everyone convicted of a sex offense to register for a lifetime regardless of the severity of the offense for which they were convicted or their current risk…
Read MoreCounty wants local control back to govern sex offenders
SAN BERNARDINO — The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors is pressing for control to govern how it deals with registered sex offenders after it voted this week to repeal its own ordinance and give precedence to California law. “The Board knows how to protect the most vulnerable people in our society,” Board Chairman James Ramos said in a statement. “We want to return control back to local jurisdictions.” Full Article
Read MoreSan Bernardino County to pare down sex-offender ordinance
Registered sex offenders in San Bernardino County will be able to move more freely within their communities after the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved repealing restrictions on offender presence and movement in the county’s unincorporated areas. The gutting of the county’s 8-year-old sex offender ordinance would fulfill the terms of a legal settlement between the county and civil rights attorney Janice Bellucci, reached in December. Full Article
Read MoreLocals Call California’s Sex Offender Registry Into Question
Sex offenders are required by law to register their name, photo and address online at meganslaw.ca.gov. A disclaimer on the website says The Department of Justice does not assess the specific risk that any convicted sex offender on the site will commit another offense. However, the website does have a Risk Assessment Score. Another disclaimer says that score determines the statistical probability that an offender will commit another sexual offense. Risk assessment scores for many of the sex offenders on the registry are currently left blank. Full Article
Read MoreCalifornia RSOL to Lobby Sacramento in Support of Tiered Registry
California RSOL will lobby state legislators in Sacramento on January 27 and 28 in support of a tiered registry. Registered citizens, family members and supporters are invited. The legislative effort will begin with a two-hour training session on Tuesday, January 27, at 9 a.m. in the offices of MVM Strategy Group, 1211 L Street, Suite 607. Attendees will then be divided into teams comprised of a registered citizen, family member and/or supporters. Participants will attend scheduled meetings with members of the Assembly and Senate as well as senior staff who…
Read More$18 Million in Taxpayer Dollars for a Program That Feeds the Sex-Offender Industry and Does Little Else
The Associated Press not only buries the lead in a story about California’s paroled Registered Citizens now being subject to periodic polygraph exams. The AP utterly misses the point. Never mind that polygraphs simply are not reliable. They’re boogie-men used mainly to scare people into admitting to crimes they probably didn’t commit. The real story here, the story The AP can’t see, is about the sex-offender industry. Full Opinion
Read MoreSex offender laws loosened
Three cities in San Diego County repealed their laws restricting sex offender access to city parks and schools last year, and one is still working to resolve a lawsuit filed over the now defunct rules. La Mesa, Santee, National City and more than 70 other cities across the state received letters last Spring warning them they could be sued if they didn’t rescind their rules barring registered sex offenders from certain city spaces. Full Article
Read MoreCalifornia making sex offenders take lie-detector tests
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — For the first time, California will make paroled sex offenders take periodic lie detector tests as a way to gauge their behavior patterns and perhaps prevent new sex crimes. The move came in response to several high-profile cases involving parolees who raped and killed. Full Article
Read MoreSERIAL KILLINGS: Case puts sex-offender monitoring under fire
Sitting on her couch with her two dogs, Detective Laura Lomeli peered at a series of red GPS dots on her laptop, searching for clues about a young woman whose mangled, nude body had been discovered weeks before on a recycling facility’s conveyor belt. Full Article
Read MoreA California law about reporting child porn puts psychotherapists in a bind
A middle-aged man feels a spark with a co-worker that he hasn’t felt in years with his wife and wants to start an affair. He remains faithful. A teenager longs to lash out in rage against her parents. She instead composes an angry song. A new mom in the throes of severe sleep deprivation and exhaustion feels a sudden urge to smother her child. She does not do so. A man feels aroused by sexual images of children. He never acts on those desires. Full Article
Read MoreIllusion of Safety
When two registered sex offenders wearing GPS tracking devices were arrested on suspicion of killing four women, the Orange County Register launched an investigation into how this could happen in a state in which Jessica’s Law proponents promised: “GPS monitoring could have saved Jessica Lunsford’s life.” The result was a series of articles documenting dangerous gaps in an overburdened system that promised more than it could deliver. Here is a story that pulls together what the Register discovered. Full Article
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