WANTED: Mandatory Prison Sentences for Child Sex Offenders

Fox News

There should be a MINIMUM 20-year sentence for the violent, sexual assault of a child.

Chelsea King was a straight-A college bound senior who went for a run in the park and never came back. Amber Dubois was a 14-year-old member of Future Farmers of America who disappeared on her way to school. Candice Moncayo was tackled at the end of a jog by a man who tried to rape her and threatened to kill her -- she escaped. What do these 3 events have in common? They were all committed by John Albert Gardner III, a violent sex offender who recently plead guilty to raping and killing Chelsea and Amber. He received consecutive life sentences with no possibility of parole. This in and of itself is bad enough, but it gets worse. He was convicted in 2000 of assaulting (repeatedly punching her in the face) and molesting a 13-year-old. A court appointed psychiatrist, Dr. Mathew Carroll, recommended the maximum 30- year-sentence, stating that Gardner showed no remorse and that he would continue to be a danger to underage girls. The prosecutor in that case opted for a plea deal for 6 years in order to spare the young girl from a trial. Gardner served 5!



Here’s the deal: Doing a psychiatric evaluation on a sex offender is not rocket science. In terms of assessing relapse potential you want to see them take responsibility for their actions, not make excuses, admit what they did was wrong AND most importantly show regret and remorse. That’s it! If you don’t get that then I’ll bet you a million bucks they will relapse. On top of that, violent sex offenders may have a progressive course that goes from molesting to rape to murder. Their recidivism rate is the highest for all crimes and is 400% the rate of other convicted felons. As for prison, pedophiles tend to serve easier time because they are sometimes kept out of the general population for their own safety and are often released early for good behavior because…guess what, here are no kids in prison! Add to this the fact that there is no generally accepted treatment/cure for this condition and you end up with only one conclusion: If you’re convicted once of the violent, sexual assault of a child then you need to be in prison for a LONG, LONG time.

Right now, there are a staggering 704,777 registered sex offenders in the U.S . The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act (Adam’s Law), passed in 2006, separates sex offenders into 3 tiers based on the severity of their offense and requires registration. The problem is that the sheer numbers have overwhelmed the system. It’s estimated that as many as 100,000 offenders may be off the grid and not accounted for. Right now there are several groups (ACLU, NAMBLA), as well as states and various lawyers challenging the law, stating that it’s unconstitutional. In addition, many sex offender prosecutors offer plea deals, even with a rock solid case, to “protect” the victim from testifying and some judges will hand out a mere slap on the wrist for these crimes against kids.

The answers are quite clear: There should be a MINIMUM 20-year sentence for the violent, sexual assault of a child. -- This rule alone would take the sympathetic judges out of the equation. Also, those in the legal system must understand that until there is a proven, effective therapy for this condition that rehab can only be considered in conjunction with prison time, not as a stand alone treatment. Adam’s Law is a good start, but needs to place more emphasis on the Tier 3 sex offenders, especially who are the worst of the worst, and focus our legal/monetary resources there. Prosecutors need to know that it’s far better to have a child testify in these cases than let even one of these offenders get off easy on a plea deal.

Now is the time to take a stand, NOW! We must draw a line in the sand and make it very clear to politicians, judges, prosecutors and organizations that our children are our future and that we will do everything in our power to protect them from these sexual predators. What do you think the punishment should be for the violent, sexual assault of a child?

May Amber and Chelsea R.I.P.

Dr. Dale Archer is a psychiatrist and frequent guest on FoxNews.com's "The Strategy Room." For more, visit his website: Dr.DaleArcher.com.

Possible Loophole In Jessica's Law

STORY

California Sex Offenders Declare Themselves Homeless to Get Around Jessica's Law

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
Hundreds of California sex offenders who face tough new restrictions on where they can live are declaring themselves homeless — truthfully or not — and that's making it difficult for the state to track them.

Jessica's Law, approved by 70 percent of California voters a year ago, bars registered sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park where children gather. That leaves few places where offenders can live legally.

Some who have had trouble finding a place to live are avoiding re-arrest by reporting — falsely, in some cases — that they are homeless.

Experts say it is hard to monitor sex offenders when they lie about their address or are living day-to-day in cheap hotels, homeless shelters or on the street. It also means they may not be getting the treatment they need.

"We could potentially be making the world more dangerous rather than less dangerous," said therapist Gerry Blasingame, past chairman of the California Coalition on Sexual Offending.

Similar laws in Iowa and Florida have driven offenders underground or onto the streets.

"They drop off the registry because they don't want to admit living in a prohibited zone," said Corwin Ritchie, executive director of the association of Iowa prosecutors.

The organization tried unsuccessfully in the past two years to persuade lawmakers to repeal the state's 2,000-foot residency restriction.

"Most legislators know in their hearts that the law is no good and a waste of time, but they're afraid of the politics of it," Ritchie said.

The problem is worsening in Florida as about 100 local ordinances add restrictions to the state's 1,000-foot rule, said Florida Corrections Department spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger. Sixteen homeless offenders are now living under a Miami bridge, while another took to sleeping on a bench outside a probation office.

"As society has imposed restrictions, it becomes almost impossible for them to find places to live," Plessinger said.

Twenty-two states have distance restrictions varying from 500 feet to 2,000 feet, according to California researchers. But most impose the offender-free zones only around schools, and several apply only to child molesters, not all sex offenders.

California's law requires parolees to live in the county of their last legal residence. But in San Francisco, for example, all homes are within 2,000 feet of a school or park.

"The state is requiring parolees to find eligible housing in San Francisco, knowing full well there isn't any," said Mike Jimenez, president of the California parole officers union. "It will be impossible for parole agents to enforce Jessica's Law in certain areas, and encouraging `transient' living arrangements just allows sex offenders to avoid it altogether."

State figures show a 27 percent increase in homelessness among California's 67,000 registered sex offenders since the law took effect in November 2006. Since August, the number of offenders with no permanent address rose by 560 to 2,622.

"This is a huge surge," said Deputy Attorney General Janet Neeley, whose office maintains the database. "Any law enforcement officer would tell you we would prefer to have offenders at addresses where we can locate them."

Offenders who declare themselves homeless must tell their parole officer each day where they spent the previous night.

Those who declare themselves homeless are still legally bound by the 2,000-foot rule; they cannot stay under a bridge near where children gather, for example. But it is more difficult for parole officers to keep tabs on them.

Parole officers said some offenders are registering as homeless, then sneaking back to homes that violate the law. That's easy to do because fewer than 30 percent of transient offenders currently wear the Global Positioning System tracking devices required by Jessica's Law.

"If they tell you that they were under the American River bridge, we're going to take that at face value," said Corrections Department spokesman Bill Sessa, referring to a homeless hangout in Sacramento.

During a recent sweep in the Oakland area, parole officers discovered that two of the five offenders they checked weren't living in the temporary shelters they had reported as their new homes. Neither had been issued a GPS device.

Department spokesman Seth Unger said parole agents are starting to make the homeless a priority in issuing the GPS ankle bracelets, which are still being phased in.

R.L., a 42-year-old sex offender who lives near Disneyland in Southern California, said he registered as homeless after his parole agent told him two potential homes were too close to schools or parks.

"I finally asked, `Where do you want me to live?' He said, `You have a car, don't you?"' said R.L., who asked that his full not be used because of the stigma surrounding sex offenders.

The law was named for 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford, who was kidnapped, raped and buried alive by a convicted sex offender near her Florida home in 2005.

The author of Jessica's Law, state Sen. George Runner, said "90 percent" of it is working well. But he conceded that some portions need to be fixed.

"When the voters voted for this, they decided that they didn't want a child molester to live across the street from a school," said Runner, a Republican from Lancaster in Los Angeles County's high desert. "If that means that in some areas that needs to be 1,000 feet or 1,500 feet, then I think that we still accomplish what it is the voters wanted."

Robocop's Comment:

It was bound to happen. I hope they find a way to seal this potential loophole. I know where they can live:




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