WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE

March 17, 2008 |
Valor

Week of March 10th
Sex offenders’ parole could be shortened
A law aimed at protecting children from child molesters could make it easier for high-risk sex offenders to reduce the length of their parole term.
Jessica’s Law, approved by voters as Proposition 83 in 2006, increases sentences for sex crimes and imposes lifetime electronic monitoring and tough residency restrictions on tens of thousands of convicted sex offenders.

Kern County looks to expand Jessica’s Law
A new ordinance will be introduced to the Board of Supervisors which will expand Jessica’s Law here in the county to limit where sex offenders can live. 29 Eyewitness news recently discovered the El Don Motel at 800 South Union Ave would be housing around 15 paroled sex offenders.
LexisNexis Risk & Information Analytics Group Launches Solution For Law Enforcement to Proactively Monitor Sex Offenders Across Jurisdictions

LexisNexis Risk & Information Analytics Group announced the release of Sex Offender Alerts, a solution that provides law enforcement officials with automated notification of the location of sex offenders, especially as they move from one law enforcement jurisdiction to another. The Alerts solution supports law enforcement agencies’ efforts to enforce the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, a law that mandates strict registration requirements for sex offenders.
Do Sex Offender Registration and Notification Laws Affect Criminal Behavior?
In recent decades, sex offenders have been the targets of some of the most far-reaching and novel crime legislation in the U.S. Two key innovations have been registration and notification laws which, respectively, require that convicted sex offenders provide valid contact information to law enforcement authorities, and that information on sex offenders be made public. Using detailed information on the timing and scope of changes in state law, we study how registration and notification affect the frequency of sex offenses and the incidence of offenses across victims, and check for any change in police response to reported crimes.
Click here to continue reading the working paper.

New Data On Effectiveness Of Megan’s Law Sex Offender Community Notification
Sex offender community notification laws – sometimes known as Megan’s Laws – have been a popular way for legislators to establish their anti-crime bona fides. We’ve known that these laws have a disparate impact on people of color. To date, though, there has been little data on their efficacy. Legislators and activists argued that these laws would help prevent recividism – both because it would scare offenders and empower potential victims and families to protect themselves.
OpEds

Sex offender law is making them more dangerous
Jessica’s law, the initiative voters approved as Proposition 83 in 2006, severely restricts where sex offenders can live and requires that they be monitored with global positioning devices for life. But the law is not working as intended. In fact, members of an expert panel assembled to monitor the law say it may be increasing the danger that sex offenders pose to the public.
Should sex offenders have special license plates?

A bill that proposes forcing sex offenders to have specialized license plates identifying them has been set in motion by Sen. Abel Maldonado.