No One to Blame But Ourselves: Jessica’s Law is a California Voter Approved Disaster
Back in 2006, Californians voted in “Jessica’s Law” (Prop 83) by a 70% majority. Jessica’s Law prohibits registered sex offenders from living 2,000 feet from schools, churches, parks, playgrounds and other places frequented by kids. Under the law, cities and counties are allowed to pass additional restrictions.So two years into Jessica’s law, how is it working out? The LA Times reports:
A state panel is urging the governor and legislators to change “Jessica’s Law,” saying its restrictions on where sex offenders can live are counterproductive and calling the nearly $25 million a year spent to house them a poor use of taxpayers’ money.This should come as a surprise to nobody. Why? Because in the runup to the 2006 election, we were warned that this was going to happen.
The residency restrictions, passed by voters more than two years ago in Proposition 83, have never been shown to prevent new crimes and may reduce public safety, the panel says…
…Barring sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of schools, parks and other areas where children gather has driven many into homelessness, an unstable situation that can propel them back to crime, according to the [Sex Offender Management] Board…
…”It seems unwise to spend such resources as a consequence of residence restriction policies which have no track record of increasing community safety,” board members wrote.
Here’s one example of reports that ran before the ’06 election. From the October 30, 2006 L.A. Times:
As Californians prepare to vote next week on Proposition 83, which would impose a similar residency ban, Iowa is becoming an example of the unintended consequences of such measures.That’s right. The Iowa Prosecutors Association AND the Coalition Against Sexual Assault, a group which represents sexual assault victims were AGAINST Prop 83. The Iowa Prosecutors even warned Californians about the perils of Jessica’s Law before the ’06 election. These warnings were in all the voting materials and on the actual ’06 ballot.
Prosecutors, police officials and even victims rights groups say the crackdown has backfired, driving some offenders into rural towns and leaving others grouped at motels, campgrounds, freeway rest stops or on the streets.
Many have simply gone underground, authorities say, with more than twice as many registered sex offenders now considered missing than before the law took effect…
“These guys are off the radar scope, and we’ve got no idea where they are,” said Bill Vaughn, chief deputy of the Polk County Sheriff’s Department in Des Moines.
All around the Hawkeye State, police and sheriff’s deputies say they are overwhelmed by the task of chasing down child molesters who violate the residency law. And although they don’t often pity sex felons, authorities say the house-hunting challenge faced by the ex-cons is almost insurmountable.
“When they call and ask where they can legally live, my response is, ‘Do you know anybody in Nebraska?’ ” said Des Moines Police Sgt. Barry Arnold. “It’s a nightmare.”
Iowa prosecutors agree. Their statewide association earlier this year declared the law a failure and asked the Legislature to pursue a different strategy to protect children from sex crimes.
The Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault, representing victims, echoed that request. Executive Director Elizabeth Barnhill said Iowans are less safe now because sex offenders, facing banishment, are absconding in large numbers.
A year after the law was enacted, city governments started to complain about enforcement problems. State Senator and Jessica’s Law author George Runner (R-Lancaster) put a statement up on his website dismissing the law’s critics. Here’s our favorite part:
Distancing sex offenders 2,000 feet from schools, parks and other places where children gather is another contemporary idea, and one that California voters have embraced. Parents simply don’t want sex offenders living across the street from schools and parks. Again, a few cities have cried foul, claiming that it is nearly impossible to find housing with the distancing restriction and thus homelessness among sex offenders is sure to occur in abundance. But so far, the claims have been based on guesswork, not actual incidents of homelessness.And even now, after Jessica’s Law has been discredited by everyone, Runner is still clinging to his twisted dream. The LA Times reports:
Responding to the criticism that residency restrictions have no benefit to public safety, state Sen. George Runner (R-Lancaster), an author of the initiative, said, “I do believe the general public would say a child molester should not live across the street from a school.”Of course the general public would say that. But if the general public later found out that it was safer to have a convicted child molester living across the street from a school in plain sight rather than camped out in the woods where no one can find him, one would hope that the general public would change their mind.
Or maybe not. Before the 2006 election, voters also ignored this map which showed that registered sex offenders would be relegated to living in remote, hard-to-track areas (the Iowa problem) or the deserts and mountains (which are uninhabitable). Actually, they probably did see this map and liked what they saw — this is precisely why things like Jessica’s Law should never be put to a popular vote.
Gov. Schwarzenegger, who endorsed Jessica’s Law saw this coming. Earlier this week, before the LA Times story hit, his office issued this press release announcing that pursuant to another provision of Jessica’s Law, all 6,622 paroled sex offenders now wear an GPS ankle bracelet.
What the press release didn’t mention is that the GPS only applies to those 6,622 parolee, not the 80,000 registered sex offenders who have completed parole. The GPS is removed after parole is over, but the residency requirement lasts forever.
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