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Assembly Bill
4 closer to becoming a California law
By Alex Roman
On-line Forty-Niner
Assembly Bill 4,
written by Assembly members Patricia C. Bates (R-Laguna Niguel)
and Dennis Cardoza (D-Merced) took one step closer to becoming
a California state law Tuesday when it was approved by the
California Senate Public Safety Committee.
However, the bill,
which would require sex offenders who are either students
or employees to register with the campus police at all colleges
and universities in addition to registering with the local
police in the town which they live, is causing some controversy.
While many groups,
including the National Organization for Women, the California
State University system and the California College and University
Police Chiefs Association have endorsed the bill, there are
still some opponents.
"We're against
dual registration," said Francisco Lobaco, legislative director
for the American Civil Liberties Union. "We feel this to be
a very punitive system."
AB 4 mirrors existing
laws that require sex offenders to register with the police
department in the area where they live.
A federal statute
HR 3244, which will go into effect in October 2002, requires
local police departments to notify colleges and universities
of the existence of a sex offender on their campus or risk
losing federal anti-crime funds.
The bill passed
the assembly by a 74-0 vote in May and passed the Senate Public
Safety Committee on Tuesday by a vote of 6-0. The next step
for AB 4 is the committee on appropriations.
"We are against
a system that is punitive," Lobaco said. "We feel that by
punishing people who forget to register, is the wrong way
to go about things."
Originally if a
sex offender failed to register they would have been charged
with a felony, which could subsequently force them to serve
a mandatory 25-years-to-life term under the "three strikes"
law.
However, much to
the pleasure of the ACLU, the bill was amended to only charge
a sex offender with a misdemeanor if they fail to register
with the campus police.
Legislators say
that this bill is a reaction to the federal statute that intends
to prevent sex offenders from being anonymous in areas outside
of their place of residence.
"This law is designed
to protect campus communities from sexual predators," said
Assemblywoman Bates spokesman Russell Lowery.
"Federal law requires states to develop some version of this
law or risk losing federal funds for crime prevention."
According to Lowery,
the state receives approximately $52 million in federal crime
prevention grant money. Failure to protect college campuses
from sex offenders would require states to forfeit 10 percent
of those funds.
In addition to
their stance against additional punishments, the ACLU also
believes that this bill would inhibit the opportunity a sex
offender should have of putting the past behind them and moving
on.
"Once you served
your time, you should not impose added limitations to people
once they're in society," Lobaco said. "This law affects people
who want to go back and finish their education or even take
a course at a local junior college."
Legislators feel
that this bill does not violate a sex offender's rights.
"The idea that
a criminal sex offender has the right to be anonymous on a
college campus is a legal fiction," Lowery said. "Society
has the right to protect itself from people who have demonstrated
an unwillingness to live within societal norms. Having law
enforcement authorities know when these people are in the
community is not an infringement on the sex offenders rights,
but a protection of the people's right to be secure."
The current law
known as Megan's Law prevents sex offenders from living in
anonymity in their community. Legislators feel laws such as
Megan's and the Cleary Act are positive steps towards possibly
solving a problem that affects people of all ages.
As of June 8 2001,
the California Department of Justice says there are 90,226
registered sex offenders. California has required sex offenders
to register with the state for more than 50 years, but it
is only after 1995 that this information became available
to the public.
University Police Captain Stan Skipworth, who would have to
enforce the new law on campus, agrees with the legislation
stance.
"I think the overall
impact is that it provides a greater degree of confidence
in the law enforcement agency that serves that community,"
Skipworth said. "I think the general public will feel as if
they are equal participants in preserving a higher standard
of living in each of their communities."
According to Skipworth,
although Cal State Long Beach has had a very low number of
reported sex offenses on campus, this law would successfully
identify sex offenders and give the University Police crucial
information that may protect students, as well as employees.
Recidivism rates
? the percentage of sex offenders that will return to jail
? are a big reason the legislators and police are concerned.
According to Terry
Thornton, spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections,
the two-year recidivism rate for offenders who committed rape
and were released in 1997 was 51 percent. As a comparison,
the rate that any inmate will return to jail is 55 percent,
which is down from 70 percent more than 15 years ago.
Much like the legislators
that wrote the bill, Skipworth says that imposing more restrictions
on their lives will not violate the rights of sex offenders.
"There is no guarantee
for everybody to be able to attend higher education, it is
not a constitutionally guaranteed right," Skipworth said.
"I think that if somebody commits a sex crime, that going
to college should not be on the top of their list. I think
there are other more serious problems which that person needs
to address."
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