(California) Sex offenders may have driver's licenses marked

Source: Associated Press

The father of a 14-year-old girl who was raped and murdered joined the latest legal offensive against registered sex offenders in California when he backed legislation to require them to carry marked driver's licenses.

The endorsement by Maurice Dubois on Tuesday was part of a growing push to overhaul the way the state punishes and tracks such criminals.

It came more than a month after convicted sex offender John Albert Gardner pleaded guilty to raping and murdering Amber Dubois and 17-year-old Chelsea King.

The bill, co-authored by Assemblymen Pedro Nava and Paul Cook, would require people convicted of some sex crimes to carry a driver's license or state identification card identifying them as an offender. The markings could include a distinctive stripe or color.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/05/26/BAF91DKHUU.DTL

---

Nava is a Democrat from Santa Barbara and candidate for State Attorney General; Cook is a Republican from eastern San Bernardino County.

One of my friends moved to Colorado last year, and his drivers license has "UNDER 21" stamped on it prominently. I guess that's to prevent production of fake IDs for nightclubs; nightclubs doing birth year checks will understand.

Once again, WHY NOT JUST KEEP SEX OFFENDERS IN PRISON LONGER so that the state doesn't waste all this frickin' time debating laws like this and victims like Amber Dubois wouldn't have been killed/hurt to begin with?

and more effective to stop repeat offensives.

He grabbed a stolen jacket off an adolescent female shoplifter who had ripped off his store several times in one month. The sex offender registry however doesn't say this - it vaguely states he assaulted a minor.

Would you shoot this man? You wouldn't be the first to threaten to.

Don't believe it.

that is the story.

Evidently removing a stolen garment from a shoplifter is assault, even when it is a jacket on the hottest day of the year.

Your story does not ring true. He probably made her undress in front of him.

Tackling, restraining and dragging: Reasonable Force
Removing garment, in this case the stolen merchandise (in this case a jacket on the hottest day of the year): Assault

Thanks to politically ambitious prosecutors, the sex offenders registry is 95% bullshit cases and 5% actual child predators.

Do you mean automatic life sentences?

When has "longer in jail" been a solution to crime? (I think it used to be called "LOCK EM UP ND THROW AWAY THE KEY!! - something they HAVE tried over the course of human history.)

Also, why not chop people's hands off who are caught stealing??

Once one is a sex offender the Megan's Law screws said offender over by restricting residency and requiring periodic registration. And of course sex offenders = felons, and once they're out of prison life for them is worthless as most businesses won't hire them. Amber Dubois's killer, John Albert Gardner III, was in prison from 2000-2005. Prosecutors originally wanted 30 years but Gardner plea bargained his way to 5. So the registry = worthless. Prison confines people who pose a threat to society.

So if he was in jail for 7 years everything would have been better?

10? 20? 30? 40? Life?

Just say "Automatic life" is what you are in favor of. It's okay to hold that view. Just take a stand.

Why not a Scarlet S tattooed on the forehead? This is absurd.

Too many courts and legislatures play too fast and loose with the law.

If Sex Offenders are properly sorted as to crime and guilt, recidivism and future threat to other people, and not all tarred with the same brush, and the punishment fits the crime....but marking people's driver's licenses is not on.

Why not a Star of David? A number on the forearm?

There is no justification for this.

And what criteria will be used to identify such offenders? Will it be just those that are true sex offenders or include those that had sex with underage that were soon to be adults? The definition of sex offenders needs to be tighter so the focus will be on the ones society has to be more concerned about.

I also don't support any legislation that is retroactive which this would be.

If this issue is as serious as they suggest then they should do a better job of evaluating the offenders before they are incarcerated and include better therapy. And include sufficient probation after they are released and better probation officers that know what the hell they are doing.

Or something like that.

Either the sex offender is still a danger to society and thusly should still be behind bars,or they are no longer a threat,and thus why the fuck do we need to come down hard on them?

Put very clearly.

If a 18 year old has sex with a 16 year old, he could end up on the list if that state considers her underage.

The level 3 sex offenders need to be locked a long, long time. They can't be treated and cured. If they are at that level, it doesn't matter if they can get a job or not. They will still be a clear and present danger.