Arnie gets tough with sex offenders

[Red Ketchup]

Looks like The Governator has some pretty good ideas on how to deal with sex offenders... I like the tracking for life idea myself... now when does he propose my favorite... public lashngs!

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...AGKTE8S2P1.DTL




SACRAMENTO
Governor backs tougher laws on sex offenders
2 new bills would force them to wear tracking devices

John Wildermuth, Chronicle Political Writer

Sacramento -- Tens of thousands of California sex offenders would be forced to wear electronic tracking devices for the rest of their lives under two new bills backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The bills, which also would boost punishment for a wide range of sex offenses, "will give California the strictest laws and the toughest penalties for the worst crimes,'' he said Tuesday. "We want these criminals off the streets and away from our schools and children.''

The governor's Capitol news conference turned up the heat on the Democratic-led Legislature, where many of the measures contained in the bills have died in party-line committee votes.

Schwarzenegger appeared at the news conference surrounded by Republican legislators and district attorneys, sheriffs and police chiefs from around the state, all supporting tougher sanctions on sex offenders.

The governor plans a full-court press to garner support for the bill. On Thursday, for example, former Gov. Pete Wilson and Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca will pump up the measure in a Southern California appearance.

But Schwarzenegger also warned he was ready to go directly to the people with an initiative if Democrats didn't cooperate by quickly passing the bills.

Californians are demanding more protection from sexual predators, he said, and there's no reason to delay.

Democrats were enraged at Schwarzenegger's suggestion that they were less interested in public safety than Republicans.

The governor's news conference was more about politics than policy, said Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, chairman of the Assembly's criminal justice committee.

There's room to work out agreements on many of the sex-offender issues if Republicans really want to negotiate, he said.

"If their only intent is to wave a red flag and then run off to the ballot," Leno said, "that's another thing altogether.''

The two bills, SB588 and AB231 are by state Sen. George Runner and Assemblywoman Sharon Runner, both of Lancaster, a husband-and-wife team of Los Angeles County Republicans.

Sharon Runner called the measures an effort to protect California's children.

"We have not gone far enough,'' she said. "I urge the Legislature to pass these bills, to not wait another minute, to not wait for another child to be victimized.''

In addition to requiring the electronic tracking devices, the bills would:

-- Bar registered sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park.

-- Make possession of child pornography a felony.

-- Allow sexually violent sexual offenders to be committed to a state hospital for an indefinite amount of time.

-- Increase parole time to up to 10 years for some sex offenses.

"Sexual predators are the dregs of society and should never be let out,'' said state Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Salinas, a co-sponsor of the Senate bill. "Please don't let politics get in the way of protecting my kids.''

State Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco and a member of the Senate's public safety committee, called the new bill "a brutal, cookie-cutter approach'' to criminal justice. It's the job of the Legislature, she said, not the voters, to deal with complex, emotional issues like this.

"If the people should vote 'yes' or 'no' on every bill, the next (initiative) measure should be to eliminate the Legislature,'' she said.

Migden and others also argued that the Legislature had cracked down on sexual offenders in recent years.

"The governor's public relations campaign aside, the Legislature already is responding to this issue in a thoughtful way,'' said Alicia Dlugosh, a spokeswoman for Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland.

But George Runner believes his bill will have a better chance with the voters than with the Democratic legislative leadership. He described the governor's effort as one final shot at getting a bill passed before Republicans start collecting signatures for the initiative, which could happen by mid-September.

Few details were available on the nuts and bolts of the measures. George Runner could only say that "fewer than 100,000" sex offenders would be required to wear the tracking devices and that there was no way of telling how much the monitoring and tougher penalties would cost the state and local governments.

"We know it's expensive, but we know our children are worth it,'' he said.

E-mail John Wildermuth at [email protected]

[Red Ketchup]

-- Make possession of child pornography a felony.

It's NOT!????? WTF is that all about? How can anything to do with kiddy porn be anything less than a freakin capital offence?

Red

[armwrestler22]

that's some good shit, i'm all for it, fry those child molesting bastards.

[ReX357]

I'd vote Yes if I lived in california.

And Red was right.

[Deezuhl]

As this topic is by far IMO the Worst thing any human can do..Sex crimes are taken way too lightly. In FL you get 15yr mandatory min for drug trafficking yet 4yrs for sex crime. These scum of the earth POS should be put on an island on the every 1st offense and have no contact with children at all if not just killed. I am going to venture out and say 95% or more sexual predators commit the crime again. whatever % they say it really is, is because they dont catch them all again. Its a disease and it cant be treated. period.

[Evil Predator]

Arnie might be the best thing ever to happen to US politics..
I applaud him, again...