GOP, Democrats Fighting Over Child Predator Law

[The Straight Story]

GOP, Democrats Fighting Over Child Predator Law
Written for the web by C. Johnson, Internet News Producer

Competing versions of Republican and Democratic-sponsored legislation to toughen California laws against child sex predators is leaving victims' right advocates feeling they're caught in the middle.

Since last year, Republican lawmakers have been trying to pass a California version of Florida's "Jessica's Law." Florida legislators enacted the law following the kidnapping and murder of nine-year-old Jessica Lunsford. A convicted child sex offender, John E. Couey, is charged with the crimes.

Jessica's Law mandates lifetime electronic monitoring of most child sex offenders. That has been a key provision in the measures being offered by California Republican lawmakers. Their package of child sex predation bills would also bar registered sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of schools and parks. That restriction, Democrats say, would result in the placement of an unfair number of child molesters in sparsely populated and largely rural Central Valley communities.

Democrats call the Republican proposals unworkable and claim it would be too expensive to monitor more than 85,000 registered sex offenders for life. The Democratic-controlled Assembly and Senate public safety committees defeated those bills earlier this month.


http://www.kxtv.com/storyfull2.aspx?storyid=15601

[seabeyond]

1. different things here, but if they are to implement such a strident

law than i think we need to reevaluated who we are putting on the list.........and how easily it is to get on this list. i think we strongly go overboard into protecting the child. you wont find anyone more of an advocate for the child, but yes, even adults, even males do have rights. and we as a society have a responsibility in protecting them, equally.

but, as far as this goes, i dont know.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. This is a difficult matter

I am sure that some people who are convicted sex offenders need to be monitored for life. But I think it might be a good idea to look at the individual offense, and the judge should have discretion in this matter. As for restricting living access--what happens if these people can find no place to live? Won't that result in some other negative action? Not that I like the idea of a preditor living near a school or park.

[pinkpops]

3. Beware Democrats - this is a trap

[wakeme2008]

4. OPs.... Tampa Tribune printed "List Of Sex Offenders Has Wrong Addresses"

http://www.tbo.com/news/MGB6S50FZIE.html

TAMPA - People drive up and down Glenn Harris Sr.'s dead-end street, and he thinks they just want to peer into his windows, looking to catch a glimpse of the sexual offender they think lives there.

Harris is fed up with the goings-on in front of his home since a Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office publication came out Sunday. The 48-page tabloid inserted into The Tampa Tribune was delivered to every newspaper subscriber in Hillsborough County. It cost about $100,000 to produce, officials said, and the content was simple:

..cut..

Under the photo of Norman Lindo was McCall's address on West Hollywood Street in Tampa.

"That particular person does not reside at this address," McCall said. "We've been here since 1995." McCall said she has never met Lindo and has no idea who or where he is.


..cut..

More Information Next Time

Bruce Faulmann, vice president of advertising and sales for the Tribune, said the tabloid's content was provided entirely by the sheriff's office, though it was printed and distributed by the newspaper.

The Tribune received a handful of complaints, he said. The information was gathered in December, and the section was printed in early January.

In the future, Faulmann said, a better explanation might be made about the content being from the sheriff's office and not the Tribune.