Is Jessica’s Law Working in California?
All Sex Offenders Subject to a ‘Lifetime’ of GPS Tracking
It has been several years since voters in California approved Jessica’s Law, which essentially slaps a GPS tracking device on every convicted sex offender living in the state. Curious as to the four-year outcome, a San Diego newspaper recently revisited the issue and the findings were somewhat surprising.
Jessica’s Law was first passed in 2005 in Florida and it is named after Jessica Lunsford, who was raped and murdered by a previously convicted sexual predator. Versions of the law are in force in several states. Most require that those found guilty of sex crimes against a child younger than 12 be sentenced to prison for a mandatory 25 years or longer. Another provision is that every sex offender submit to a lifetime of GPS monitoring.
Surprisingly, California – even with its many expensive homes and upscale residents – has the longest list of sex offenders of any state in the nation. Has the list gotten any shorter since Jessica’s Law? Just how well is the law being followed?
The truth is that not all sex offenders in California are being fitted with GPS tracking systems; only those on parole and considered to be at “highest risk”: about 7,000 people. Why not? Well, for one, few people backing the law thought to factor in an adequate funding mechanism.
Some GPS tracking systems are quite cost-effective, such as the LandAirSea Systems GPS Tracking Key, which sells for less than $200. The Tracking Key and its sister system the GPS Tracking Key Pro are passive GPS tracking systems and they are perfect suited to tasks such as teen tracking and fleet management.
To track sex offenders, police would need to look on a computer and see where these criminals are at all times. That would require a real-time GPS tracking device. Real-time GPS Tracking devices cost more than their passive partners and have ongoing monthly fees. The GPS tracking anklets California Legal System use cost about $1,500 each. Certainly, to have criminals walking the streets costs less than the incarceration. In researching this subject, LandAirSea learned that California has somewhere between 80,000 and 110,000 sex offenders. If only a fraction of those – 7,000 – were tracked, that’s $10 million, not counting the ongoing monthly service fees and the cost of personnel to monitor the GPS tracking devices.
The investigation into Jessica’s Law in California made the following conclusions:
- According to LandAirSea research, most of the sex crimes committed in any given year are not the work of previous offenders; they are new ones. Therefore Jessica’s Law would not have them already “tagged” and monitored with GPS tracking systems.
- GPS tracking devices (at least those that are tracking people rather than vehicle tracking) are powered by batteries. That puts the responsibility on the offender to replace or recharge those batteries. Of course, most GPS tracking systems send out a signal or have a light indicating when the power is low. A parole officer can receive that warning and respond accordingly. But there still seems to be something wrong with a criminal providing the maintenance on the equipment that is tracking him.
- As one law officer pointed out, a GPS tracking system is a tool. It will not eliminate the problem of sex offenders; but manage them. Geo-fencing will tell authorities when their tracking subject enters a physical area where he is forbidden. “We can tell where the bad guy is, but we can’t necessarily know who he is with or what he is doing,” said the officer.
- Can a GPS tracking device serve as a criminal’s conscience? There is some research that indicates certain individuals will alter their habits because the GPS tracking ankle bracelet serves as a physical reminder that they are being watched.
No one knows exactly what to do to keep one-time sex offenders on the straight and narrow. The best advice seems to be to use a multi-faceted approach, forgetting neither the offender nor the potential victim. Rather than a single solution, it seems that the problem would be better addressed by a combination of counseling, medical attention, maintaining a published online sex offender list, a notification program for victims at prison release, preventative education and GPS tracking systems.
Is Jessica’s Law working? It can’t hurt. A life of crime is a choice, but it’s also a habit, and habits are hard to break. No one wants to shoo violent criminals out of the doors of a prison and simply tell them to behave themselves. Bad guys need to be watched. GPS tracking systems are a good way to do that. But remember there is a cost to be paid for every state-mandated program; even if the families of loved ones destroyed by sexual predators would say you can’t put a price tag on a life.
Source: The North CountyTimes
Tags: Anklets, GPS Tracking, Jessica Lunford, Jessica's Law, sex offenders
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