Should 83 be 86'd?

Click title or image to access Sack-B Editorial. BACK returns to blog.

Noting that "even Proposition 83's most ardent supporters welcomed" the TRO issued last Wednesday, Sack-B's Op-Ed team argue the initiative was "poorly drafted and ill considered."

Paco agrees wholeheartedly. He's also pleased to see Mike Jimenez recognizes the problem. At the same time, one wonders why Sack-B's Editors only quote our President when he says something they like?

Meanwhile, the president of the California Correctional Peace Officer's Association, the state prison guards union, who previously supported the initiative, has had second thoughts. At a Capitol hearing last week, Mike Jimenez said he believes Proposition 83 will burden parole agents with the impossible task of finding housing for thousands of displaced sex offenders. He called it "a bad idea." He's right. Sadly, it's now state law.(Sack-B)

Notwithstanding the merits of GPS monitoring, residence restrictions, expanded parole terms and every other solution out there, the fact is they are merely band-aids over a wound nobody wants to look at, much less fix.

What we need is an OMNIBUS SEX OFFENSE CONTROL and REFORM ACT (OSOCRA)--the current structure is a patchwork of antiquated regulations stitched to together with ill-conceived "reforms." This quilt of confusing, permissive laws is full of gaps and loopholes.

In Placer County, for example, 18 year old males convicted of unlawful sex with a minor of 15 are prosecuted vigorously and routinely required to register for life under PC 290. In virtually every other county, the cases aren't even prosecuted--when they are, the filing is usually a misdemeanor.

Clearly, Prop 83 was just one more public reaction to the perception the system is broken. And, since that perception is correct, it is fair to say the initiative was ALSO a reaction to the legislature's cowardice and complacency in FAILING to fix it.

So, what would OSOCRA entail?

• High base, indeterminate sentences for actual sex offenders
• Lifetime registration including supervision or searchable status for child-predators and other sexually violent offenders ONLY
• Reclassifying penal code to differentiate between compulsive sex-offenders and the episodic variety. For example, stranger rape vs. spousal rape. Rape is rape, but who can reasonably argue both should register for life?

In any case, it will never happen. Nobody in government has the stones to propose any reform that could be spun into a weak on crime jacket. Meanwhile, well-intentioned jackasses get stupid initiatives on the ballot so other well-intentioned morons can vote them in as bad law. It's hard to say who wins in the process but it sure isn't public safety.