No California Dreamin' For Out-Of-State Sex Offenders

9-30-2011 California:

New law allows Department of Justice to review cases to determine whether an out-of-state sex offender moving to California has to register as a sex offender.

Bipartisan legislation dealing with out-of-state sex offenders was signed into law Thursday morning by Gov. Jerry Brown.

The legislation, authored by Assemblyman Paul Cook (R-Yucca Valley) and State Sen. Ellen Corbett (D-San Leandro), allows the Department of Justice to review cases to determine whether an out-of-state sex offender moving to California has to register as a sex offender, Cook said.

Currently, a person required to register as a sex offender in another state might not be required to register in California if the laws of the home state do not mirror those in California, according to Cook and his staff.

Until 2010, the California Department of Justice reviewed and interpreted the laws of other states in cases where the conviction did not mirror California sex offender statutes, according to Cook.

But a court decision that year barred the Department of Justice from performing this function.

"When the courts barred the Department of Justice from reviewing these sex offender cases, they created a virtual safe haven for sexual predators," Cook said in a prepared statement. "With the passage of this bill, California can review these out-of-state cases, which will result in one more barrier to preventing these criminals from evading law enforcement.

"I started working on this issue as soon as I heard about the court decision in the summer of 2010," Cook continued. "It took a long time to get through the Legislature, but I'm happy that we did it in a bipartisan way, and that the Governor realized the importance of the bill. This law will ensure that dangerous sex offenders moving to the Inland Empire and other parts of our state can't use a technicality to avoid registration." ..Source.. by Guy McCarthy