California:  Major changes are coming to the country’s largest (over 105,000 individuals) and oldest (1947) sex offense registry.  Anyone registered in California is listed for life; the state had become an outlier, one of just four states with such a harsh lifetime-registration law.  Soon California will have a so-called tiered sex offense registry, the same type of scarlet letter machinery used by nearly every other state.  Just signed by the governor, the new law comes after two reform efforts failed in recent years.  The 2017 bill had law enforcement backing and got much closer to passage than the previous two, only to ‘die’ mysteriously in a key legislative committee in September.  Behind closed doors the bill’s sponsors made major changes to satisfy opponents and, by using an odd procedural maneuver, the bill passed in the legislative session’s final hours.  As to whether the new law is progress, the dust hasn’t settled yet so stay tuned.  Let’s see what the Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL), a vibrant California-based advocacy group, has to say.  Here’s the Los Angeles Times report, a press release from the state-wide LGBT lobby group, and a link to the new law, have a look. –Bill Dobbs, The Dobbs Wire

 

Los Angeles Times | Oct. 6, 2017

California will soon end lifetime registration of some sex offenders under bill signed by Gov. Jerry Brown

 

 

By Patrick McGreevy

 

Thousands of Californians will be allowed to take their names off the state’s registry of sex offenders as a result of action Friday by Gov. Jerry Brown.  Brown signed legislation that, when it takes effect Jan. 1, will end lifetime listings for lower-level offenders judged to be at little risk of committing new crimes.

 

California is one of only four states that require lifetime registration of sex offenders. The others are Alabama, South Carolina and Florida.  The new law signed by the governor creates a tiered registry, with high-risk offenders on the registry for life and others able to petition to be removed after either 10 or 20 years without re-offending, depending on the offense.

 

The measure was introduced at the request of Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey and other law enforcement officials who said the registry, which has grown to more than 105,000 names, is less useful to detectives investigating new sex crimes because it is so bulky.  “California’s sex offender registry is broken, which undermines public safety,”  said Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), who introduced the bill. “SB 384 refocuses the sex offender registry on high-risk offenders and treats low-level offenders more fairly.”  MORE:

http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-ca-essential-politics-updates-bill-ending-lifetime-registry-of-sex-1507332406-htmlstory.html

 

 

SB-384 Sex offenders: registration: criminal offender record information systems.

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billCompareClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB384

 

 

Equality California | Oct. 6, 2017

Press Release:  Governor Brown signs Equality California-sponsored bill to reform California’s sex offender registry

https://www.eqca.org/384signed/

 

 

 

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