Criminal Law News

A new bill that has just been passed by the California Senate would increase prison time for sex offenders and extend parole terms for certain kinds of offenders.  The bill, Chelsea’s Law, will now head to the California Assembly and if it passes, will end up on the desk of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to sign into law.

Chelsea’s Law is named after 17-year-old Chelsea King, who was raped and murdered while jogging in a suburban San Diego park.  The murderer was John Gardner, a registered sex offender who pleaded guilty to Chelsea’s death.  Chelsea’s Law has several provisions that should alarm California criminal defense lawyers.  For instance, it provides a one strike sentence without parole, and lifetime parole for sex offenders who have committed crimes against children below the age of 14.  The crimes that are included under the provisions of Chelsea’s Law include rape, lewd and lascivious acts on a minor, first-degree burglary that resulted in great bodily injury, and sexual abuse of a child committed during a kidnapping.

Offenders convicted of sex crimes on children below the age of 14 would be given lifetime parole, and placed under GPS supervision with no possibility of discharge.  That’s not all. Under the law, any registered sex offender who commits a felony offense and enters any park where children gather frequently without obtaining written permission of a park official or a parole officer, would be charged with a misdemeanor.  The law also calls for revision of California’s laws governing the treatment and management of mentally disordered sex offenders, to continue detention of such offenders.

The problem that California criminal defense attorneys have with Chelsea’s Law is that it aims to provide a one-stop solution to deal with sex offenders.  Some of the provisions will do nothing more than drive sex offenders to the fringes, instead of giving them access to the treatment and counseling they require.  Besides the cost of maintaining a system like this will be exorbitant.