Jessica’s Law initiative is misguided public policy? Only if you have your head in the sand!
I try not to write too much on the advantages of using GPS tracking technology to supervise the parole of sex offenders and other dangerous criminals … but every day it seems another misguided negativist seems to need to have her say. Considering that women, sadly of all ages, are the primary target of these sex offenders it’s truly amazing when ill-thought-out diatribes like this keep surfacing from seemingly well-intentioned, highly intelligent women.
Apparently Fourth District county Supervisor Gary Ovitt wants to enter a national contest and make San Bernardino County the county with the toughest sexual offender regulations. (‘‘S.B. preps for Jessica’s Law,” Daily Bulletin, April 21.)…
I guess my first comment is this is wrong thinking on the part of Supervisor Ovitt? I wish more County Supervisors and other public leaders wanted their constituencies in first place on something, and being the toughest county on sex crimes is far from a poor goal. I wonder what county the writer wants to be in first place instead of San Bernardino County? “Let’s root, root, root for the visitors”? Frankly I wish my County leadership wanted our county in first place on this issue.…
The simple truth is that GPS will not protect the vast majority of children who are molested in their own homes or the offender’s home. Furthermore, the prohibitive cost of such a program will take resources away from real protection – both by law enforcement and prevention programs…
The simple truth is this is just a plain old lie. I can’t tell if it’s driven solely by a misguided sense of fiscal responsibility or if the writer has some hidden agenda that she does a great job of hiding … running against Supervisor Ovitt in the next election? Got a nephew who would be in the program if it comes to fruition? I don’t know but I am at a loss to see the point in striving to do less.
As I have written many times before, this form of GPS tracking doesn’t cost, it can easily be made to pay.
The first alternative is leaving the offenders in jail. That’s the most 100% method of protecting against any further crimes. But it’s very, very expensive … $35,000 to $45,000 per year in most jurisdictions, and going up continuously. Not to mention the costs to the offender’s families who have to be supported by someone if dad is watching TV and reading in the library at tax payer’s expense.
Secondly, the equipment to track offender is as low as a few hundred dollars each … will last the lifetime of a number of parole stints, and can easily be made self-supporting by requiring the offender’s to pay for the relative freedom it will provide.
Lastly, and most importantly, the systems absolutely do help. I’ve blogged about a number of incidents where GPS tracking ahs caught parolee’s “going bad” before a further crime was committed and there are thousands of stories over the past year or so that I didn’t write about.
GPS Tracking of sex offenders on parole just absolutely makes sense. It pays for itself, it helps convert those offenders who are ‘curable’ back into society, and it finds and re-imprisons those who won’t reform. Supervisor Ovitt … you have my vote for sure.