Free Republic

Gov. Schwarzenegger signed legislation Wednesday creating a sex-offender management board to improve the state's oversight of sex offenders and foster communication between law-enforcement officials. The bill closely resembles a bill Schwarzenegger vetoed last year. The 2005 parole of convicted rapist David Allyn Dokich to Mead Valley, an unincorporated community south of Riverside, highlighted a lack of communication between state and local agencies. The sheriff's department had little notice of Dokich's arrival. Under AB 1015, a 17-member board will oversee the management and treatment of sex offenders. The goal is to reduce recidivism and protect the public. In his veto message...

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today signed a package of bills that will increase prison terms for many sex offenders and bar them from loitering near schools and parks once released. The measures, signed just seven weeks before voters face a ballot initiative containing many similar provisions, also require sex offenders considered ''high risk" by authorities to wear electronic tracking devices while on parole. Backers said the new laws give California the nation's toughest restrictions on sex offenders, a group of convicts targeted in a growing national crackdown spawned by a series of high-profile crimes against children. Under one of...