By Shauna Mecartea and Marcelle
Richards
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The State Assembly passed a bill Monday that will force students
or employees who are sex offenders to register with university
police.
Assembly Bill 4 passed 74-0, with two abstentions or absences.
If the governor signs it into law, AB 4 will be implemented in July
2002.
The bill elevates the publicity of sex offenders established by
Megan’s Law, which pertains to all 50 states and allows
people to request information about sex offenders in their
neighborhood.
But because many college students and employees commute, sex
offenders on campus are not necessarily registered with campus
police if they reside off-campus, according to Nancy Greenstein,
UCPD director of community services.
“Before, neighborhoods were entitled to the information.
Now this bill extends it to the university and job place,”
said Scott Svonkin, chief of staff for Assemblyman Paul Koretz,
whose district includes UCLA.
While the bill’s author, Assemblywoman Patricia Bates,
R-San Diego, says the bill will heighten campus security, some
question whether this outweighs the privacy rights of
offenders.
“We oppose the bill because its requests will subject (sex
offenders) to harassment and interfere with their ability to
rehabilitate themselves,” said Mary Broderick, executive
director of California Attorneys for Criminal Justice.
The roots of AB 4 date back to last year, when former President
Bill Clinton’s Violence Against Women Act passed in October.
Federal funds were dangled as a carrot before states in urgency to
pass legislation that would obligate states to take a stronger
stance in sex offender registration.
Federal law penalizes states for not complying with registration
requirements by withholding 10 percent of the state’s
anti-crime grants.
Since the University of California receives the bulk of its
funding from the state, state losses will trickle down to campuses,
according to Russell Lowery, legislative director for Bates.
If AB 4 is signed into law, sex offenders on campus must
disclose their status to campus police, and may be charged with a
misdemeanor or felony for failing to do so.
Proponents say AB 4 will prevent the state from losing millions
of dollars.
“It is very likely to pass, otherwise the state would be
forfeiting $5.2 million,” Lowery said.
While some say the bill will pass because of financial threats,
others said AB 4 should pass to protect law-abiding citizens.
“People should be informed of the presence of these types
of people,” Svonkin said. “The type of person who
commits these crimes is not entitled to the same kinds of privacy
rights.”
Greenstein said campus police would store sex offender
information, which would then be disclosed to West Los Angeles
police departments should anyone request to see the list.
The prospect of a law that would be inclusive to college
campuses has set some UCLA students at ease.
“(The bill) is a good idea because a campus is known to be
a preying ground,” said Adam Barenfeld, a fourth-year history
student.
Bates said the bill will foster healthier student-parent
relations with campuses due to the extended access to
information.
But opponents of the bill say the directories are inconclusive,
especially if first-time offenders, or offenders who escaped
prosecution, are involved.
“Sex offender registration laws give people a false sense
of security ,” Broderick said. “People need to use
common sense and protect themselves and not assume that people not
in the registry are not a threat.”
She added that naivete runs particularly high on college
campuses and may leave “secure” students in more
vulnerable positions if they let their guard down.
“They may think the registry will protect them, but
it’s just the opposite,” she said.
While public safety is the tagline that won over a sliding
majority of the State Assembly, Broderick said rehabilitation must
start by leaving criminal history in the past.
“We believe that if people have served their sentence,
they deserve to get along with their life,” she said.
“One way they get out of crime is to get an education and
into meaningful employment.”
Broderick’s stance was backed by the American Civil
Liberties Union and the California Public Defenders Association who
said this bill goes beyond the intent of sex offender
registration.
“(The bill) will effectively deter any person who has been
convicted of a sex offense from attempting to better him or herself
through education,” the CPDA said in a statement.