Taking the lead from Florida lawmakers bent on imposing harsher
penalties on child molesters, a bill proposed by local Senator Jeff
Denham will be heard today which would require convicted sex
offenders to wear tracking devices for life.
Hollister – Taking the lead from Florida lawmakers bent on imposing harsher penalties on child molesters, a bill proposed by local Senator Jeff Denham will be heard today which would require convicted sex offenders to wear tracking devices for life.
Denham, R-Merced, amended a bill he previously authored to require anyone convicted of a lewd or lascivious act with a child under the age of 12 to wear a lifetime satellite tracking device after being released from prison, according to his Chief of Staff, Jim Kjol. His previous bill, which failed in the Senate Public Safety Committee earlier this year, would have required convicted sex offenders to be placed in remote areas away from possible victims, Kjol said. The same committee will vote on Denham’s amended bill today.
After it was voted down, Denham amended it last week after the Florida House unanimously approved a bill named after 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford. Lunsford was bound and buried alive near her Florida home by a convicted sex offender who did not register with police after he moved near the girl’s home. The Jessica Lunsford Act, which would require someone convicted of molesting a child under the age of 12 to wear a tracking device for the rest of their life after they were released from prison, will now go before the Florida senate.
“Florida has taken the lead in making sure these monsters are monitored like a hawk and we should do the same here in California,” Denham said. “With criminals of this type displaying a high rate of re-offending, we need to take every precaution possible to increase the safety of our children.”
Denham’s bill would require someone with just one conviction of child molestation of a child under 12 to wear a ankle bracelet for the rest of their lives, Kjol said.
While Kjol predicted the bill will get some heat from people claiming a lifetime tracking device is an invasion of privacy, he believes it’s warranted.
“Then if they go near a park or school, law enforcement would know and swoop down on them,” he said. “Our position is, the moment they attacked someone’s child, they lost a lot of those rights.”
The bill will be voted on by the Senate Public Safety Committee today. If it passes it will make its way through the legislative process – to the Senate floor sometime in the future, and if legislators approve it there, to a committee in the state Assembly and so forth.
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected]
