California Sex offender Policy

California Sex Offender Policy

In California we have two such policies that address child sexual abuse, Megan's Law, and Chelsea's Law. It is too bad it took the deaths of three young girls for us to finally get this right. That is what my paper is about two legislative-initiated policies that protect our kids from the sick twisted monsters roaming the streets in today's society.

Megan Kanka was a seven-year-old girl who was raped and murdered by a known sex offender in July of 1994. The murder's name is Jesse Timmendequas and he was Megan's neighbor in New Jersey. Because of this incident sex offenders are now required to register their current address with law enforcement as part of Megan's Law. All 50 states have adopted some variation of Megan's Law, but in 2004 California took Megan's Law one step further by making this information available to the general public via a website. Now it is possible to see the address of every sex offender in your neighborhood with your personal home computer. Had this been the policy in 1994 Megan Kanka may still be alive today (State of California Department of Justice, 2009).

Chelsea King was a 17-year-old girl who was abducted, raped and murdered by convicted sex offender by John Albert Gardener the III on February 17th 2010. Her body was discovered by Lake Hodges in San Diego California. After Gardner was arrested for the rape and murder of Chelsea King he led officials to the grave of 14-year-old Amber Dubois who had disappeared a year earlier. In exchange for Amber Dubois body Gardner would not face the death penalty, but only life in prison without the possibility of parole. Because of these two murders Chelsea's Law was created and will ensure sex offenders that use force or drug their victim's will go to prison for life, one strike no second chances. Chelsea's Law was signed into Law on September 9th 2010 by then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. It would have applied to Gardner for his first rape conviction years earlier, Gardner would have never been paroled, and Chelsea King, and Amber Dubois would both be alive today (CNN Justice, 2010).

Both Megan's Law and Chelsea's Law were in initiated by the respective parents and then carried on passed into law by the state's legislature. There are no constitutional issues with either policy as far as I know. Both Megan's Law and Chelsea's Law will make the community safer in my opinion. Megan's Law will give parents the ability to know the whereabouts of sex offenders, and warn their children to stay clear of those areas, which can only help keep our kids safer. Chelsea's Law will incapacitate violent sex offenders forever never affording them the opportunity to reoffend, which in my opinion is inevitable. Both laws are bad news for the offenders and hopefully will supply just the right amount