Weekly News Update

August 18, 2008 |
Valor

Week of Aug 11
LA Times: “Jessica’s Law may not be hospitalizing more post-prison sex offenders”
The Los Angeles Times reported last week that ” Jessica’s Law may be failing to deliver on its promise — and in some respects producing the opposite of its intended effects.”
The Times investigation indicated, that “the law has led far more sexual offenders to be evaluated and recommended for indefinite hospitalization after their prison terms end. But the number of commitments has barely budged.”
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Ex-CHP officer gets probation for molesting girls
The Associated Press reported last week, that an “ex-California Highway Patrol officer has been placed on three years’ probation for molesting 13- and 14-year-old girls in his Salinas home.”
Editorials:
Broken Justice in Indian Country
By N. BRUCE DUTHU
One in three American Indian women will be raped in their lifetimes, statistics gathered by the United States Department of Justice show. But the odds of the crimes against them ever being prosecuted are low, largely because of the complex jurisdictional rules that operate on Indian lands. Approximately 275 Indian tribes have their own court systems, but federal law forbids them to prosecute non-Indians. Cases involving non-Indian offenders must be referred to federal or state prosecutors, who often lack the time and resources to pursue them.
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Editorial: Jessica’s Law is an expensive failure
By now, it should be apparent that California voters made a serious mistake when they passed Proposition 83, the 2006 ballot initiative popularly known as Jessica’s Law.
The law requires lifetime monitoring of sex offenders – not only those charged with child sexual abuse and rapists whose victims were adults, but also those convicted of consensual sex with a teenager and even misdemeanor indecent exposure. It bars offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park.
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