Jessica's Law safe for now
What does a society do with people who have committed rape or incest or child molestation? It's one of the most complicated questions of law enforcement and one that was at the root of a type of legislation that's swept the nation in recent years.
In California, the law, known as Jessica's Law, passed overwhelmingly in 2006 as Proposition 83. But it has become more controversial since its implementation. The law is supposed to keep those who've committed sex crimes like rape, child molestation, and possession/distribution of child pornography-but have already served their prison sentence-from living near playgrounds and schools. It also calls for all sex offenders to wear GPS tracking bracelets for life. The law has a 'no-duh' kind of simplicity to it: keep people who have shown themselves capable of horrific crimes away from potential victims and keep tabs on where they go to make sure they're staying away from potential victims. Unfortunately, it hasn't really played out like that.
The overwhelming consequence of Jessica's Law is a strange loophole. It's been incredibly difficult for some sex offenders, particularly those in cities like San Francisco, to find housing that isn't within 2,000 feet of a park or school, as the law calls for--there are simply parks and schools everywhere. So more and more sex offenders are registering as "transient," which means they are homeless, often living in vans, hotel rooms, or on the street. Why call this a loophole? Because if a sex offender is "transient," he or she it's true, cannot live in a house or apartment within 2,000 feet of a school or park, but CAN park his or her van by a playground or sleep on the sidewalk outside of a school.
Some say the ankle bracelet portion of the law has aided law enforcement, but there are also questions as to the effectiveness of ankle bracelets--they show where a person is, critics say, but not what he or she is doing. Phillip Garrido wore an ankle bracelet that showed he spent a lot of time outside in his back yard. It famously did nothing to alert authorities to the fact that rather than gardening, Garrido was actually visiting the tent compound where he kept the kidnapped Jaycee Lee Dugard and their children.
Despite the fact that sex offenders are probably the public's greatest fear, many states that have similar laws on the books have started to scale them back or drop them altogether, because they're not working. In California, the strongest challenge to the law has been a lawsuit,which has specifically targeted the constitutionality of a few parts of the law.
First, the law has been applied broadly, to anyone who falls under a certain penal code which encompasses a swath of marginally related crimes. One of the petitioners in the suit, for instance, is a registered sex offender, and subject to Jessica's Law because he was caught urinating under an overpass. Second, the law is applied retroactively. Anyone who's ever committed a crime that falls under the law can be subject to these living restrictions if they come into contact with law enforcement again. So a man who committed sexual assault when he was 15 could be subject to the law if 30 years later, he's arrested for drug possession, regardless of whether or not he has a further history of sexual crimes. Lastly, the suit claims that the law punishes a sex offender for a crime he or she has already served time for--which the Court has determined in other cases, a parole restriction typically cannot do.
Today, the California Supreme Court dismissed the argument that the law cannot be retroactive (meaning it can be retroactive). It also sent the other questions back to a lower court to hash out some facts of the cases before they rule on the constitutionality ofJessica's Law.
I called up Ernest Galvan (of Rosen, Bien & Galvan) a lead attorney on the trial, and he said that he still feels they do have a good chance of getting what he called a "forced homelessness policy" overturned. He said it's just a matter of going back to trial court and addressing some questions the Justices were concerned about. There's no time line on when that'll happen yet.
For more info on Jessica's Law, you can listen to a documentary I made with KALW on the fall-out of the law.
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Discussion
Politicians should do some research before drafting legislation. Of course, we all want those who would do harm to others off the streets, but sloppy legislation creates too many problems.
The three-strikes law is another law that does not work as voters intended. I know a mother whose drug-addicted son (most of us know some of those) has spent 14 years of a 25 to life prison sentence for watching someone else's drug deal from 30 feet away when he was in his late 20's. When he was 17 he foolishly burglarized two neighbor's houses and was punished. He received a strike for each house.
At $50,000 each year for each inmate, he is costing money that would be better spent elsewhere. We should have sentenced him for a reasonable amount of time and provided some drug rehab.
Officials at Donovan state prison say the recidivism rate was reduced from 70% to 21% because of the rehab, drug, and education programs. The programs are gone due to faulty logic and false economy. They cost far less than the $50,000 each year for each inmate who is returning to prison because the programs were eliminated.