Prop 83 Tightens Residency Restrictions on Sex Offenders

9-17-2007 California:

More than 350 recently paroled sex offenders in the Bay Area must relocate within 45 days to a residence more than 2,000 feet away from a school or park.
State officials on Friday finished notifying about 2,700 parolees statewide—though none in Berkeley—that they must move or face a possible return to jail, said Bill Sessa, a spokesperson for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Sex offenders convicted after the passage of Proposition 83 in November and before legal challenges to the law were settled now officially face a ban from living within about a quarter-mile of a school or park and may be tracked with GPS systems.

Known as “Jessica’s Law” for Jessica Lunsford, a Florida girl who was raped and murdered in 2005, Prop. 83 expanded many restrictions previously reserved for child molesters to all sex offenders convicted after its passage.

State officials visited the homes of about 5,000 paroled sex offenders statewide to verify that their residence falls outside the 2,000 foot limit as measured by handheld GPS devices.

Officials also modified the parole conditions of sex offenders convicted after the law’s passage who live outside the 2,000 foot zone to ensure that they may never move within it, Sessa said.

Berkeley contains no recent parolees in violation of the law, Sessa said.

It is also unlikely that sex offender parolees, who must stay in the county where they were convicted, will move to Berkeley.

The city, like most in the Bay Area, contains few locations that do not fall within 2,000 feet of a school or park where children regularly play, said Berkeley police Sgt. Mary Kusmiss.

“Given the current broad definition (of restricted areas), there are only tiny little pockets of Berkeley­­­ that wouldn’t fall under the restrictions,” Kusmiss said. “There are few, if any, places where a sex offender could live.”

About 50 sex offenders live in the city, Kusmiss said.

Parolees having a hard time find unrestricted residential locations may seek assistance from social service agencies, but ultimately are responsible for finding acceptable housing. ..more.. by Julie Strack and Brian Whitley, Daily Cal Staff Writers