New state law aims to limit where California judges place violent sex offenders out on conditional release

New state law aims to limit where California judges place violent sex offenders out on conditional release

A state law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown this week would make it harder for violent sex offenders released under a court's conditions to live in counties where they have no work or family ties.

Assembly Bill 255 will require judges to consider additional factors, such as residential, family or employment connections, when weighing where to release offenders who fall under the Sexually Violent Predator Program. 

Offenders in the program have been convicted of a sexually violent offense and diagnosed with a mental disorder making them likely to repeat their crime. Inmates must complete rehabilitation treatment at a state hospital after fulfilling their prison sentences befor e they are released into the community. 

Under the new law, courts will have to find that there are extraordinary circumstances in a case in order to place offenders outside the county where they previously lived.

The state has grappled with removing barriers to housing for sex offenders in recent years after controversial blanket restrictions, approved by voters, once prohibited all sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park.

But bill signed Monday had the support of police and county officials across the state and sailed through the legislative process with little to no opposition. Assemblyman James Gallagher (R-Yuba City), who introduced it, said violent inmates are often placed in rural counties like his own. 

“These repeat sexual offenders pose a serious threat, and rural counties shouldn't be a default dumping ground for t hem,” he said in a statement.

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