Paroled sex offenders now monitored by GPS

State corrections officials announced today that a majority of paroled sex offenders in California are being monitored by GPS technology.

The agency reports that 6,622 sex offenders have been fitted with GPS ankle bracelets, allowing their parole agents to immediately locate them.  The broad use of monitoring technology is an outgrowth of Proposition 83, or Jessica's Law, which was passed in 2006 by state voters. It required every offender to be outfitted with the technology.

The state is home to about 70,000 sex offenders. Nearly 11,000 parolees are under the jurisdiction of the state Department of Corrections. Those parolees without GPS monitoring systems are either in police custody or awaiting some kind of judicial hearing.

Corrections officials said placing the paroled offenders on GPS was completed six months ahead of schedule. About 40 offenders are assigned to each parole agent; the ratio for high-risk offenders is 20 to 1.

State officials say agents visit their parolees "on a routine basis," and agents are immediately notified when a parolee is in violation of his zoning requirements.

The Times reported in 2007 that thousands of sex offenders were not being regularly supervised either because their crimes predate Jessica's Law or because local law enforcement didn't have the resources to track them.

Local police departments, including the LAPD, have been using GPS technology to track the movements of paroled sex offenders in their jurisdictions.

-- Andrew Blankstein

Comments

[MSLGW]

I don't believe one needs to worry so much concerning First time sex offenders as they have a very low recidivist rate, The repeat offender, the violent and those who did not know their victim are the ones who need to be watched more closely.
It's time to register the the drug dealers and DUI's They kill thousands of kids each year. Those who have a high rate of recidivism.

98% of new sex offenses are committed by family members and those known to the family. It's about prevention through parenting.

http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=87&id=576

Reports on the rearrest, re conviction, and re incarceration of former inmates who were tracked for 3 years after their release from prisons in 15 States in 1994. The former inmates represent two-thirds of all prisoners released in the United States that year. The report includes prisoner demographic characteristics (gender, race, Hispanic origin, and age), criminal record, types of offenses for which they were imprisoned, the effects of length of stay in prison on likelihood of rearrest, and comparisons with a study of prisoners released in 1983.

Highlights include the following:

* Released prisoners with the highest rearrest rates were robbers (70.2%), burglars (74.0%),

larcenists (74.6%),

motor vehicle thieves (78.8%),

those in prison for possessing or selling stolen property (77.4%),

and those in prison for possessing, using, or selling illegal weapons (70.2%).

* Within 3 years, 2.5% of released rapists were arrested for another rape,

and 1.2% of those who had served time for homicide were arrested for homicide.

* The 272,111 offenders discharged in 1994 had accumulated 4.1 million arrest charges before their most recent imprisonment and another 744,000 charges within 3 years of release.