Court: Sex offender housing restrictions unconstitutional
By Lydia O’Connor, Huffington Post
The California Supreme Court ruled Monday that a state law barring sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park is unconstitutional.
The ruling immediately affects only San Diego County, where the case originated, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, but will “almost certainly apply to other densely populated counties.”
The housing restriction known as Jessica’s Law passed by voters in 2003 aimed to create predator-free zones. But it unfairly infringes on registered sex offenders’ personal liberties, Justice Marvin R. Baxter wrote, and has “severely restricted their ability to find housing in compliance with the statute, greatly increased the incidence of homelessness among them, and hindered their access to medical treatment, drug and alcohol dependency services, psychological counseling and other rehabilitative social services available to all parolees.”
Yeah, well…I disrespectfully disagree.
Hmmmm, ditto…
OK
then put them to death as any offender should be
I get it that a drunk guy pissing behind a dumpster needs to be classified(and treated) differently than a child molester. Maybe a tattoo on a chomo’s forehead, or…
I agree Hmmm; mandatory sentencing laws are like fishing nets that haul in and usually kill countless species so the fisherman (fisherperson?) can sort through and take the fish he wants.
I have seen countless examples but the one that immediately comes to my mind was many years ago when a young cop, educated in the law, but too new to have good judgment, busted an 18 year old high school senior who was making out with his 17 year old girl friend in the high school parking lot, and charged him with statutory rape (or attempt, I forget which). Fortunately cooler heads eventually prevailed, but nationwide we all know of law enforcement agencies that would consider that a job well done and tag that kid with a sex offender tail that would stay attached the rest of his life.
I’ve known some sex offenders that I’d happily toss in the kitchen disposal, but I’ve seen and heard of enough examples similar to that parking lot romance during my life that I would never make any uneducated assumptions about anyone carrying a sex-offender tag. And some of those examples do include drunks pissing in alleys.
I’m glad. All this law did was to make molesters and sex offenders go underground where it is harder to track them. The crazy thing also is the sex offenders laws treat all offenders as if they are the same. I person who flashes, while disgusting, should not be subject to the same restrictions as a child rapist.