CALIFORNIA News

(Los Angeles) May 12, 2010 -- California is creating homeless adults by
failing to ensure that youth in foster care are given the support to
live independently as adults and by ending state support abruptly, Human
Rights Watch said in a report released today. Human Rights Watch said
that the state should provide financial support, connections with
adults, shelter, and other safety nets for young people as they make the
transition toward independence.

The 70-page report, "My So-Called
Emancipation: From Foster Care to Homelessness for California Youth,"
documents the struggles of foster care youth who become homeless after
turning 18, or "aging out" of the state's care, without sufficient
preparation or support for adulthood. California's foster care system
serves 65,000 children and youth, far more than any other single state.
Of the 4,000 who age out of the system each year, research suggests, 20
percent or more become homeless.

"By failing to prepare youth in
foster care for adulthood and cutting them off from support abruptly as
they become adults, California is failing in its duty to these young
people," said Elizabeth Calvin, senior advocate for children's rights at
Human Rights Watch and author of the report. "These young people are
capable of making the transition successfully, but they cannot do it
without the state's help."

This month the state is considering
dramatic cuts to child welfare services, which would eliminate an
existing transitional living program, over 400 social workers, and other
programs for foster youth preparing for adulthood.

"These
proposed budget cuts would undermine foster youth's main defense against
living on the streets," Calvin said. "The state will bear the costs of
the predictable result - increased homelessness."

Most children
enter foster care because abuse or neglect at home triggers the duty of
the state to step in and protect them. The state becomes their parent
and must ensure that children have adequate food, clothing, shelter,
health care, and education. But the responsibility to provide the
guidance and support necessary for children in foster care to grow into
independent adults is no less important, Human Rights Watch said.

Human
Rights Watch interviewed 63 young people who became homeless after they
left foster care in California. Their stories shed light on the complex
array of factors that led to their homelessness: missed opportunities
to learn skills, lack of ability to support themselves, a shortage of
second chances, and the fact that no one cared what happened to them.

Of
those interviewed, 65 percent had not graduated from high school when
they were forced out of state care; 90 percent had no source of income.
These young people were expected to survive on their own, though the
state had provided little training for adult living skills and was
providing no support during the transition. In these cases, homelessness
is a predictable outcome.

California state law requires child
welfare agencies to develop, in conjunction with each youth in foster
care, an "emancipation plan" for what the young adult will do when
leaving foster care. But in practice, plans are often not made or are
unrealistic and unlikely to prevent a youth from becoming homeless,
Human Rights Watch said. Young people described to Human Rights Watch
emancipation plans that lacked arrangements for housing or the income to
afford it.

Human Rights Watch called on California to provide
foster youth with a variety of options as they make the transition to
adulthood, like their peers in family homes enjoy. These could include
more time at home before moving out on their own, or somewhere to stay
for certain periods, such as during college vacations.

The state
should also maintain a spectrum of other options for housing,
mentoring, and support for former foster youth, including transitional
housing programs, mental health services, services for those with
learning disabilities, and services for pregnant and parenting youth,
Human Rights Watch said.

"The science of adolescent development
shows that childhood does not end abruptly at a certain age," Calvin
said. "In most US families, young people continue to receive a spectrum
of support - emotional and financial - as they make the transition to
adulthood, and the youth in California's care deserve no less. "



Selected
Testimony

The day I graduated from high school my foster mom
told me, "You've been emancipated. You can't live here anymore." My
social worker showed up - I was still in my little graduation dress and
heels, my flowers, my cap on. My social worker had never talked with me.
[She just] told me, "I've called around and found a shelter for you.
You have a bed for four months."

- Karen D., age 21, San
Francisco.

On the day of my so-called emancipation, I didn't
have a high school diploma, a place to live, a job, nothing...The day I
emancipated - it was a happy day for me. But I didn't know what was in
store. Now that I'm on the streets, I honestly feel I would have been
better off in an abusive home with a father who beat me; at least he
would have taught me how to get a job and pay the bills.

-
Roberta E., age 24, Los Angeles

"I wish I could have had ...
someone to care about me ... like show me how to separate the whites
from the darks [for laundry.] I would have hated it at the time, but I
wish I'd had that. They never even asked me, ‘Is something wrong? Talk
to me."

- Nikki B., age 18, Sacramento

"If you're going
to put kids in group homes, in foster care - at least give them what
they need to survive and take care of themselves. [When I aged out of
care] I was expected to know how to get a job, buy a car, all that
stuff, but ... I didn't have any idea how to go about doing things. So, I
ended up on the street."

- Tony D., age 20, Berkeley

Los Angeles County's child welfare system has failed to complete
investigations into child abuse hotline tips involving more than 18,000
children within the time mandated by the state, according to county
records.Because of the backlog, state regulators recently
extended L.A. County's deadline for completing investigations from 30
days to 60, but Department of Children and Family Services officials
have been unable to meet the new timeline as well. Some 3,700 cases —
many involving multiple children — have been open two months or longer
without determining whether abuse or neglect is taking place in the
home. The delays — which might leave children in dangerous situations
until social workers complete their work — are the result of too few
staff burdened with a litany of new tasks intended to reduce the deaths
of children whose families already had come under the department's
scrutiny. "The social worker staff simply cannot keep up with
everything we are asking them to do," department Director Trish Ploehn
said. "All of the things that equate with quality do take time."
John Tanner, executive director of Service Employees International Union
Local 721, which represents the social workers, said, "The emergency
response system is at a breaking point. We have to reinvent it to best
help social workers ensure child safety." The crisis began last
year after The Times reported that more
than a dozen children had died of abuse or neglect in each of the
two previous years after coming to the attention of the department.
Internal investigations subsequently determined that most of those cases
involved errors
by the department that probably contributed to the fatalities, and
that the errors were concentrated in the unit that handles emergency
response. Department officials responded by ordering more
interviews, additional managerial oversight and other duties intended to
improve the thoroughness of investigations. But the work proved
to be too much for the county's 596 emergency response unit workers — up
only 80 from a year ago. They are charged with investigating about
160,000 tips that arrive each year through the child abuse hotline.
Since July, about 7.5% of the cases opened based on those tips remained
unresolved after 60 days or more. A recent internal study also
found systemic flaws in the unit's investigations.

LOS ANGELES -- A KTLA analysis of the Megan's Law database finds
clusters of sex offenders living in some Southern California
neighborhoods, while others have virtually none.
When we conducted our research last month, we found one zip code in
Wilmington -- 90744 -- with more registered sex offenders living in it
than any other in the region.
One block of Flint Avenue in Wilmington was home to 94 registered sex
offenders.
Most have done time for victimizing kids. They live in run-down
apartments. Thirty
of them in this one building, The Harbor Inn, where
the manager, who told us his name was Joseph, makes no apologies.
"They have to have somewhere to stay," he told us. "They are human
beings."
Flint Avenue is an industrial area near the port and a refinery. It's
not close to homes, schools, or parks.
Still, if you took a wrong turn and ended up here, there's no sign to
warn you this is a neighborhood full of sexual predators.
What we found here is typical.
Our research on the Megan's Law database found that the
90744 zip code Wilmington has the most, with 202, followed by a zip code
in Lancaster with 157,
137 in a part of Long Beach.... and 118 in a section of Compton.
Sex criminals tend to live in poorer parts of town.
You'll find none in zip codes in Encino, San Marino, Pacific Palisades,
and Newport Beach... and only one in Beverly Hills.
Orange County Assistant District Attorney Todd Spitzer says sex
offenders are generally unemployable, and tend to live on public
assistance. He says they can only afford cheap housing.
The law says they're not supposed to live within 2,000 feet of a school.
But we found plenty that do.
In Maywood, just across the street from Loma Vista Elementary, there's a
duplex that's home to
a convicted child molester.
He wasn't around when we knocked.
Some prosecutors think California needs to get tougher on sex offenders
by keeping them in prison longer, monitoring them with GPS for life, or
forcing them to live farther away from people.
Assistant District Attorney Spitzer thinks confining sex offenders to
the high desert might be a good plan.
"I don't think it's a laughable idea," he told KTLA.
But back on Flint Ave. in Wilmington, there's a different attitude.
Joseph, the manager of an apartment building that houses 30 sex
offenders, told KTLA, "People have to open their hearts and forgive."
KTLA has created an interactive map showing all of our research on where
sex offenders live in L.A. County.
You can find it at www.ktla.com/sexoffenders.

SAN DIEGO—The San Diego
County Board of Supervisors has voted to establish an e-mail warning
system to alert residents about registered sex offenders living in their
neighborhoods. Supervisor Bill Horn proposed the warning system
Tuesday in the wake of sex offender John Albert Gardner III's admission
that he raped and murdered two teenage girls. The supervisors
have voted unanimously to ask staff members to develop a cost estimate
for a system that allows residents to sign up for the e-mail alerts.
The system would give residents the updated information about
sex offenders that police departments have. The state
attorney general posts such information for the public but Horn said the
information is often outdated.

The father of slain Escondido teenager Amber Dubois recognizes that
legislation he plans to unveil Tuesday could receive a hostile reception
in some Capitol corners.

Nevertheless, Moe Dubois is convinced that requiring convicted sex
offenders to always carry a distinctive driver’s license or state-issued
identification card will help police and businesses better protect
children from predators.
“Do I think it’s going to pass through smoothly? No,” Dubois said in a
telephone interview.

If it stalls, Dubois vows to bypass lawmakers by appealing directly to voters.
“I have a feeling it will get stopped in one of the committees. Then
we’ll pursue it via an initiative,” he said. “There are many more people
who want protection for their children from predators.”

Assemblymen Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley, and Pedro Nava,D-Santa Barbara, have signed on to jointly carry the driver’s
license measure as part of a four-bill package aimed at sex offenders.

Those proposals are designed to help law enforcement authorities more
quickly respond when children are taken, including the formation of a
state rapid response team of experts to assist local authorities responding to abductions.

Amber, 14, disappeared while on her way to school on Feb. 13, 2009.
Her body was not found until a year later. John Albert Gardner III, 31, a
convicted sex offender who had been released from parole supervision,
earlier this month pleaded guilty to the rape and murder of Amber and
17-year-old Chelsea King,17, of Poway. He is serving two life sentences without the possibility of parole.

Chelsea’s parents, Kelly and Brent King, have been active in the
campaign to pass “Chelsea’s Law” that increases penalties for violent
sexual crimes. Assembly Bill 1844 goes before the Assembly Appropriations Committee Friday.

Dubois and supporters plan to release his proposals Tuesday because
May 25 is National Missing Children’s Day, first proclaimed by President Reagan in 1983.

Under Assembly Bill 589, all registered sex offenders would be issued
special driver’s licenses that would identify them as such. If they do
not drive, they must obtain a state-issued identification card, also
with a distinctive mark.

The licenses or identification cards would have to be carried “at all
times, outside of his or her place of residence,” the bill states.

Supporters say that will help police quickly identify sex offenders
and scrutinize circumstances such as a child as a passenger or a toy in the back seat.

“The second they walk up to a vehicle they should know who they’re dealing with,” Dubois said.

Also, businesses could voluntarily require identification at events
catering to children to ensure that sex offenders are not scouting for
their next victim, supporters say.

Nava and Cook agreed with Dubois that the measure will face stiff
resistance from civil libertarians and others who argue that tighter
restrictions will not necessarily make the streets safer. Opposition has
yet to emerge, given the newness of the proposals. Cost estimates have
not been prepared. Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, a frequent critic of crime crackdowns, said
he had not seen the legislation.

“It’s going to be tough,” said Cook, adding law enforcement
authorities he has talked to welcome the license. “They really like it.
It gives them a chance to react quickly. It could make a big difference.”

Said Nava, “I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the Legislature objects
to the reasonable approach. Then the citizens of this state will take
it upon themselves to get the results.”

Some states are ahead of California. Delaware,
for example includes the letter “Y” on sex offender licenses. In Louisiana,
it’s “SEX OFFENDER” in all-capital orange letters.

Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children, said his organization has not taken a position on
marking driver’s licenses.

“We haven’t analyzed the effect ... We’d have to know a lot more
about how it would help,” he said in a telephone interview.

But Allen is enthusiastic about other proposals to speed up responses.

“Time is the enemy in searching for a missing child,” Allen said.

Less controversial, but far from a guaranteed signature by the
governor, are three other measures:

— Assembly Bill 1022 would establish within the Department of Justice
the “California Missing Children Rapid Response Team” that would be
available to help local police when children disappear. The team would
also assist local officials with protocols, programs and technologies
related to abductions.

— Assembly Bill 34 would require the state to file within two hours
information about a reported missing child under the age of 16 to the
Violent Crime Information Center and the National Crime Information Center. The current requirement is
four hours.

— Assembly Bill 33 would require the Commission on Peace Officer
Standards and Training to develop specialized guidelines and courses for
law enforcement related to investigating missing children cases. That
measure also seeks to make it easier for law enforcement to target sex
offenders who live within five miles of the scene of a crime.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who supports Chelsea’s Law, has not
reviewed the new measures and does not have a position, said a spokeswoman.

Dubois has come up with a new proposal, which is much earlier in the
formative stages. He wants to prevent impact statements from being
released before victim families get to read them in court at sentencing.
Dubois’ statement was released before Gardner was sentenced on May 14.

“I truly felt victimized,” Dubois said. “I want a law so that doesn’t happen to a victim’s family again.”

Redding CA ---- Mercy Medical Center/ Redding (MMCR) has received
two grants from the Kids’ Plates program, which is administered by the
California Department of Public Health. The intent of the grants is to
prevent unintentional childhood injury by providing children with
bicycle and multi-sport safety helmets; as well as provide parents with
child passenger safety seats. MMCR received 60 helmets and 54 child
passenger safety seats to be distributed through its Emergency
Department (ED).
As the area’s designated trauma center, MMCR’s ED cares for more than
700 patients a year who seek services due to unintentional injuries.
Now, thanks to the Kids’ Plates program, if an unintentional injury
involves a child passenger safety seat or helmet, Mercy can replace it.
“People might not realize that car seats and helmets are designed to
withstand the force of only one accident. Consequently, they must be
replaced and are not intended to be reused,” said MMCR’s Trauma
Coordinator Linda Henrich, who administers the program. “This grant will
enable MMCR to provide proper protection to children before they leave
the hospital.”
Kids’ Plates is funded with proceeds from sales of vehicle license
plates that feature a heart, a star, a hand or a plus sign. These
California vehicle specialty license plates generate funds for child
injury and abuse prevention, and childcare health and safety programs.
MMCR was one 20 organizations selected to receive funding during this
granting cycle and one of two organizations to receive grants for both
child passenger safety seats and bicycle/multi-sport helmets.
As part of the grant, Henrich received training on the proper
installation of car seats and proper fitting of bicycle helmets. “The
number of injured children due to improperly fitting helmets and car
seats is alarming,” she said. Before leaving the hospital, Henrich will
educate the parent(s) on the proper installation of car seats and ensure
a bicycle helmet fits correctly.
MMCR is collaborating with the Shasta County Injury Prevention
Coalition to conduct proper car seat safety checks throughout Shasta
County. Currently, limited appointments are available and can be
scheduled by contacting Henrich at 530-225-7242.
A limited number of bicycle helmets will also be distributed during
bicycle safety rodeos. The Lassen View Elementary School Bike Rodeo will
take place on May 26, 2010. The Whitmore Elementary School Bike Rodeo
is scheduled for the end of May.

The Senate Transportation Committee Tuesday rejected legislation
proposed by the father of murdered Escondido teenager Amber Dubois that
would have required a distinct identifier on driver’s licenses for
convicted sex offenders.

Senators expressed deep reservations over the bill, noting it would
brand even minor offenders and didn’t include penalties for
noncompliance.

Further, experts said there is scant evidence that public safety
would be greatly improved.

“They brought up some points that we have to recognize are valid. We
will have to rework it,” Moe Dubois conceded after testifying at the
hearing. ”We knew this would be a tough one.”

The bill was rejected on a 5-2 vote split along party lines, with Democrats
opposed. State Sen. Christine
Kehoe, D-San Diego,
voted against the measure.

Fourteen-year-old daughter Amber was raped and murdered in February
2009 by convicted child molester John Albert Gardner III. In April, he
pleaded guilty to the crime along with raping and murdering 17-year-old
Chelsea King of Poway this past February. He is serving two life
sentences without the possibility of parole.

Dubois, teaming up with a bipartisan pair of lawmakers, has proposed a
package of measures that he said would speed police response to
abductions and help recover children before they are harmed further.

Assembly Bill 589, driver’s license measure, was the most
controversial of the four bills.

“My only child was murdered by a sex offender, I have nothing I can
protect except the children of this state,” Dubois said, adding he wants
to bring the bill back next year.

The legislation also would have required a designation on
state-issued identification cards. Registered sex offenders would have
had to carry a license of identification card with them at all times
outside their homes.

Driver’s licenses with specific characteristics are not unique in California.
Drivers under 18 are issued a license with a blue stripe because of
certain limitations. Those under 21 are provided a license with a red
stripe to make it easier for merchants to spot minors trying to buy
liquor. There is also a large “donor” and pink dot on licenses of those
enrolled in an organ registry.

Supporters say that will help police quickly identify sex offenders
and assess clues as to whether the person poses a danger, such as having
a child as a passenger or simply a toy or clothing in the back seat,

A few states have imposed similar requirements. For example, Delaware
includes the letter “Y” on sex offender licenses. In Louisiana,
it’s “SEX OFFENDER” in capital orange letters.

But the California measure ran into stiff opposition from several
opponents noting that it would stigmatize many who pose no risk of
attacking again and prevent them from finding jobs or otherwise leading
law-abiding lives.

“The worst of the worst offenders will simply choose not to (have) a
driver’s license,” said Ignacio Hernandez, representing the California
Attorneys For Criminal Justice.

Hernandez pointed out that police could quickly identify sex
offenders given that law enforcement data bases already link to those on
active parole.

The Sex Offender Management Board, an advisory panel to the governor
and lawmakers, also refused to endorse the measure, saying there is no
evidence that such identification reduces recidivism.

Also, the Department
of Motor Vehicles expressed concern over mistakenly
issuing a branded license to an innocent driver. DMV officials also said
such a significant change could force them to reopen a new contract
with a private vendor to produce licenses and identification cards at
about 1.4 cents each.

Dubois is also lobbying for three other bills, all of which are
before the Senate Public Safety Committee June 22:

• Assembly Bill 1022 would establish within the Department of Justice
the “California Missing Children Rapid Response Team” to help local
police when children disappear. The team also would assist local
officials in developing abduction-related protocols, programs and
technologies.

• Assembly Bill 34 would require the state to file within two hours
information about a reported missing child under the age of 16 to the
Violent Crime Information Center and the National
Crime Information Center. Four hours is the current
maximum wait.

• Assembly Bill 33 would require the Commission on Peace Officer
Standards and Training to establish guidelines for law enforcement
related to investigating missing children cases. That would also make it
easier for law enforcement to target sex offenders who live within five
miles of the scene of a crime.

Meanwhile, “Chelsea’s law” faces a major test before the Senate
Public Safety Committee June 29.

Chelsea’s parents, Kelly and Brent King, have been active in the
campaign to pass the law named after their daughter.

Assembly Bill 1844 includes a one-strike penalty that eliminates any
chance of parole for those guilty of a forcible sex crime against a
minor under the age of 14 if the child is physically injured in other
ways.

The legislation also would impose stiffer penalties for other sex
crimes against those under 18 and bars predators from parks without
prior permission of authorities.

Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger, who supports Chelsea’s Law, has not
reviewed the measures proposed by Moe Dubois and does not have a
position, said a spokeswoman.

Legislation proposed by the father of slain Escondido teenager Amber
Dubois to speed up and better coordinate responses to reports of
missing children unanimously sailed through the state Senate Public
Safety Committee Tuesday.

“This will bring the process ,,, into the 21st Century,” Moe Dubois
testified.

His daughter, 14-year-old Amber, was grabbed off the street, raped
and murdered by convicted sex offender John Albert Gardner III in
February 2009. In April, he pleaded guilty to the crime and also to
killing 17-year-old Chelsea King
of Poway this past February. Gardner is serving two life
sentences without the possibility of parole.

Dubois is pushing Assembly Bill 34, which would require law
enforcement to report child abductions to national databases within two
hours instead of the current four hours.

One statistic that drove home the urgency: three out of every four
abducted children found dead were killed within the first three hours.

“The common denominator is the time — just how critical it is,”
said Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley. Cook is carrying the
measures along with Assemblyman Pedro
Nava, D-Santa
Barbara.

Committee Chairman Mark Leno,
D-San
Francisco, urged passage. “We know that everything we
try to do doesn’t mean it’s fool proof, but that doesn’t mean we can’t
try to tighten the screws to save every child we can,” he said.

A second measure, Assembly Bill 1022, would create a specific
director’s position within the Department of Justice who would be in
charge of helping local agencies develop and maintain strategies and
technologies needed to bring abducted children home safely.

Supporters noted there are several state and federal agencies
involved in abducted children’s cases. “The problem is there has been
little coordination,” Nava said.

The unanimous vote advanced both measures to the Senate Budget and
Fiscal Review Committee.

Another bill backed by Dubois that would have identified sex
offenders on their driver’s licenses was rejected by the Senate
Transportation Committee last week. Opponents said there was little
evidence it would further protect children while doing considerable harm
to people mistakenly identified as offenders.

SACRAMENTO -- For the past two years,
Assembly Member Mike Villines has pushed for a new child abuse law named
after a Fresno boy -- only to see his legislation stopped by Democrats
worried about prison crowding.The bill's fortunes might change
this year.Assembly Bill 1280 -- which increases penalties for
child abuse that causes severe injury -- cleared a key hurdle last week
by passing the Senate Public Safety Committee. The legislation has never
made it this far."I am pleased that we will finally be moving
forward," said Villines, R-Clovis.The legislation, dubbed "Adam's
Law," is named for Fresno's Adam Carbajal, who as a 1-year-old in 2004
was severely abused by his mother's then-boyfriend, Ramon Curiel.


Adam Carbajal, shown in a photograph from March 2009,
was badly injured by his mother's boyfriend in 2004
and is the namesake for a new law.

Curiel was baby-sitting Carbajal and originally said the boy fell
while trying to walk. But authorities later determined that Carbajal was
shaken and hurled against a wall. He was initially given a 5% chance to
live."The day before, he was walking, crawling -- doing
everything a normal little boy does," his grandmother, Maria
Alvarez-Garcia, said at last week's hearing. "Twenty-four hours later,
he was on his death bed."Carbajal, now 7 years old, was for years
confined to a wheelchair, but now is able to move about with the aid of
a walker. Villines became personally involved in the case and in
2008 began pushing for a new penalty of 15 years to life in prison for
any person caring for a child younger than 8 who inflicts "great bodily
injury" that causes permanent brain injury or paralysis.But
Villines had trouble getting past the Democrats' policy of holding bills
that exacerbate prison crowding. In a compromise this year, the bill
was amended to require a lesser sentence of seven years to life in
prison, with the possibility of parole.That is still stiffer than
present guidelines, which call for up to six years in prison for child
abuse and 25 years to life for cases that result in death.In an
e-mail celebrating the bill's progress, Carbajal's supporters said:
"Basically, the only way a perpetrator will be able to get out is
through the parole board. We are very excited and are optimistic that
this year will be our lucky year!!" The bill is supported by the
California District Attorneys Association. Opponents say the state could
more wisely spend money on prevention."We can't stop this if we
are going to spend money on incarcerating people for extended periods of
time instead of making sure it doesn't happen," said David Warren, a
lobbyist for Taxpayers Improving Public Safety, an activist group
critical of the state prison system.AB 1280, which already has
passed the Assembly, still requires approval of the full Senate.

A state Senate bill that would seal the autopsy reports of murdered
children is making its way through the Legislature with the help of
testimony from the family of slain Tracy 8-year-old Sandra Cantu.

A
Senate committee unanimously approved the bill Thursday, July 15, which
was introduced by Senate Minority Leader Dennis Hollingsworth,
R-Murrieta. The bill would allow family members to request autopsy
reports and other evidence remain sealed if their child was murdered.

Angela
Chavez, Sandra’s aunt, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee
and said “No one wants to remember their loved ones in an autopsy
photo,” according to The Associated Press.

Sandra’s family has
fought to keep Sandra’s autopsy report and photos sealed, although the
prosecutor and lead detective on the case said the information in the
grand jury transcript has more disturbing details than the autopsy
report itself.

A judge released the grand jury transcript last
month, but decided to keep the autopsy photos sealed forever in fear
that bloggers and those on the “fringe of the media” would get their
hands on the photos and plaster them on the Internet.

The
ultimate decision to release the autopsy report is up to the San Joaquin
County Sheriff, and the judge in San Joaquin Superior Court temporarily
sealed the report last month and scheduled a hearing on the issue.

The
ongoing battle over Sandra’s autopsy report continues in court in
Stockton on July 23.

The death of a child, especially one taken by
criminal violence, is about as cruel an act as can be visited on the
surviving family and friends.
It is understandable that we would want to shelter them from
the pain, but in the end there is no real shelter save the support
of each other and the passage of time.
But now a California lawmaker
is proposing one of those do-something, do-anything acts that
government officials so often take when faced with circumstances where
in truth government has few real solutions.
He wants to allow family members to request
that the autopsy reports of murdered children and other evidence in such
cases be permanently sealed. The records also would not be subject to
disclosure under the California Public Records Act.
The proposal by Republican state Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth
of Murrieta was approved unanimously by a Senate committee Thursday.
The request comes as the family of Sandra Cantu fights to block release
of autopsy reports. The 8-year-old Tracy girl was murdered by
Melissa Huckaby, who is serving a life sentence without the
possibility of parole. Another hearing on the family's request is
scheduled for Friday in San Joaquin County Superior Court.
Investigative reports that the family also wanted kept private along with grand
jury transcripts already have been released. They give the often
heart-wrenching explicit details of the case.
Difficult as reading those reports can be, their release is important so the
public can understand the case, but most importantly so the public
can judge the actions of law enforcement and courts.
Without such public scrutiny, we can quickly lose confidence in how
justice is meted out. Public scrutiny also is a way to assure that
law enforcement and the courts operate within the
confines of our constitutional rights, especially rights that guarantee a fair trial.
There is another point here, though. Hollingsworth's legislation would make a
child's murder a special class of crime. What his proposal says is that the pain of the
family of a murdered child is so much greater than that of others whose
family members have been killed that they deserve special treatment.
We can't help but question the validity of what that implies. Is the family of a father murdered
during a convenience store robbery in any less pain than a murdered child's family? Is the
family of a college student killed by a repeat drunken driver in any less pain? What about the family
of the victim of a serial killer?
Hollingsworth's proposal fails at the most basic level because it cannot protect surviving
families from pain. No law can. What it does do is remove part of the transparency vital to
maintaining public confidence in our system of government.


Poster's Note: Bravo to "The Record" and Recordnet.com for this fine editorial on what the downsides of this law would be. BBM

San Andreas, CA...In the last year, a Turlock teen whose baby was
found dead in a dumpster was sentenced to eight years in prison for
felony child abuse. A 15-year old Lathrop girl secretly delivered her
baby who was found in the garbage. Parents who commit these acts are
often under severe emotional distress. The mothers may hide their
pregnancies, have nowhere to turn for help, and abandon their infants.
Abandoning a baby puts the child in extreme danger. It is also illegal.
Too often, it results in the baby’s death. Because of the Safely
Surrendered Baby Law, this tragedy doesn’t have to happen in California
again....





Two new signs, in English and Spanish, have been placed outside the
Emergency Room entrance to Mark Twain St. Joseph’s Hospital. It is one
of three designated Safe Surrender sites in Calaveras County. This
month, a Lodi mother brought her newborn baby to Lodi Memorial Hospital.
She decided she simply couldn’t afford to keep her baby. The baby will
be placed in protective custody and placed for adoption.

California's Safely Surrendered Baby Law allows a parent or anyone
authorized by a parent to confidentially surrender an infant, within 72
hours of birth, to a worker at any hospital or designated fire station
rather than abandoning them in an unsafe location. The law guarantees
anonymity and freedom from prosecution if there are no signs of abuse or
neglect.

Prevent Child Abuse Council Calaveras and prevention partners are
working to increase knowledge of the law to protect infants. Calaveras
County Sheriff Dennis Downum stated, “The law provides a safe place for a
newborn when a parent feels he or she is unable to cope with the
responsibility. Law enforcement personnel support it as a means to
reduce child abuse and neglect.” There have been no babies abandoned in
Calaveras County, but Dave Baugher, Fire Chief of Ebbetts Pass Fire
District, has ensured that firefighters and personnel at designated
fires stations are prepared if a baby is received.

24 Hour Safe Surrender Sites in Calaveras County
Mark Twain Saint Joseph’s Hospital-Emergency Room
768 Mountain Ranch Road
San Andreas, CA 95249
(209) 754-3521

Ebbetts Pass Fire Protection District Station One
1037 Blagen Road
Arnold, CA 95223
(209) 795-1646

Central Calaveras Fire & Rescue Protection District
19927 Jesus Maria Road
Mountain Ranch, CA 95246
(209) 754-4330

Few political issues are as difficult to tackle as laws dealing with California's ever-growing number of convicted sex offenders.
For years, experts on the issue have complained that state laws were
determined more by sound-bite politics than policies that improve public
safety and protect children. Elected leaders, wary of accusations that
they were being soft on sexual predators, have historically stayed clear
of reforming such laws, except to make them harsher.
But this week, Sacramento lawmakers will take up a measure that has
been greatly revised since its introduction earlier this year to include
provisions such as ongoing treatment for sex offenders and sentences
tailored to the severity of a crime.
Backers say the changes to AB1844 would focus the state's limited resources on the worst child molesters
and will make great strides toward fixing how California deals with
people found guilty of sex crimes - even if, at first glance, some of
its provisions appear to ease restrictions for some convicted criminals.
Perhaps just as unusual - the revised bill is the result of a rare
bipartisan collaboration.
The proposal is called Chelsea's Law, after a San Diego teen killed by a registered sex offender
in February. Like many legislative responses to horrific crimes against
children, it began as a punitive measure that would have increased the
sentences and parole terms given to child molesters.
The changes made last month include tailoring those sentencing and
parole requirements to specific crimes, instead of taking a
one-size-fits-all approach. It would match treatment approaches to
ongoing assessments of offenders, and it would use polygraph tests for
parolees.
The measure still doesn't tackle what many experts consider one of
the biggest failures of current sex offender law: restrictions on how
close convicted sex offenders can live to places like parks and schools.
That restriction has forced thousands of parolees into homelessness,
which critics say actually hurts public safety because the offenders
become harder to track.
However, the newly proposed changes do conform with many of the other
recommendations that the state's own experts - the California Sex
Offender Management Board - have made for years.
"The bill, as introduced, was trying to get at some solutions to
pretty complex problems, and as it went through the process it got
better and better," said Robert Coombs, a victim's rights advocate who
chairs the board. The bill still includes harsher sentences for violent
sex crimes against children, lifetime sentences for the most horrific
offenses and lifetime parole for others - "tough on crime" approaches
that are easy to sell to both lawmakers and voters.

New approach
"There are still some elements of just straight-up
sentencing enhancements there, but for the most part it is stepping away
from a just over-generalized approach and starting to take a look at
what we know works instead of what we feel works," Coombs said.
The deal worked out between Republican Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher of San Diego and San Francisco
Democratic Sen. Mark Leno, chairman of the public safety committee,
represents a marked departure from past efforts to tighten those laws.
In 2006, for example, Republican sponsors of a bill known as Jessica's Law went straight to the ballot after the measure was killed in the Assembly Public Safety committee, which Leno then chaired.
That measure included the restriction on convicted sex offenders
living within 2,000 feet of schools or parks. Leno was vilified for his
opposition, but as an April Chronicle story noted, the residency rules
in Jessica's Law are now under attack by an increasing number of state
officials, law enforcement experts and some victims' advocates for
forcing sex offenders into homelessness.
That problem is particularly acute in dense, urban areas such as San
Francisco, where 84 percent of paroled sex offenders are transient.
Studies have shown there is no connection between where a person
lives and whether they will commit another crime, and that instability -
such as homelessness - can actually make a sex offender more likely to
re-offend. Other states - including Iowa and Georgia - have recently
scaled back or eliminated similar residency restrictions. As part of
their agreement, Fletcher pledged to revisit the residency issue with
Leno next year. He hasn't promised to support a potential bill or ballot
measure, "but I am committed to working with him, because there's a
fair conversation to be had about what's in the best interest of public
safety," Fletcher said.

Funding Chelsea's Law
For Leno, one of the biggest issues was reining in the cost of longer parole and prison sentences.
In order to offset the anticipated increase in inmates, Fletcher
agreed to raise the prison threshold for those convicted of an unrelated
crime: repeat offenders that commit petty theft. The change means more thieves will stay in county jails instead of state prison.
Even with that change, it's not entirely clear what Chelsea's Law
will cost; an updated analysis is expected to be released within the
next week. The original bill was estimated to increase state costs by
tens to hundreds of millions of dollars over the next two decades.
However, both Leno and Fletcher argue that portions of Chelsea's Law
could ultimately save the state money while better protecting children.
That's because the state will be required to closely monitor a parolee's
risk of re-offending, and to tailor treatment based on those risks -
likely resulting in fewer victims, less recidivism and lower prison
costs.
This containment model has been proved to work in other states, they said.
Chelsea's Law is not without some opposition: Defense attorneys and
the ACLU have concerns about the longer prison sentences and the lack of
treatment when offenders are in prison. Coombs also said it remains to
be seen how well state officials implement the bill. But, he added,
Chelsea's Law is a step in the right direction after Jessica's Law,
which he considers a failure.
"We're left to pick up the pieces after someone introduces an
initiative that is not well thought out, doesn't address a well-realized
problem and is based more on bumper sticker politics," he said. "This
is probably one of the bigger steps."

A state lawmaker who wants to
put certain child molesters in prison for life after a first offense is
trying to reduce the cost of his bill. Republican Assemblyman
Nathan Fletcher of San Diego has offered several amendments to the
legislation, some of which would save money elsewhere in state
corrections spending. One includes allowing many people convicted of
petty theft to serve their time in county jails, rather than being sent
to prison. Fletcher says the state needs to focus on putting people in prison who pose a real threat to rape and murder. The
bill, Chelsea's Law, is named after Chelsea King, a 17-year-old who was
murdered this year in San Diego County. AB1844 is to be considered by
the Senate Appropriations Committee this week.

State lawmakers have sent the governor legislation that would create
self-defense and safety-awareness programs for school districts.

However, the Schwarzenegger administration has signaled the bill may be met with a veto.

The measure is one of several bills stemming from the murders of north San Diego County teenagers Chelsea King and Amber Dubois.

Other measures sent to the governor are aimed at improving the response time to reports of abducted children.

Meanwhile, the centerpiece measure known as Chelsea’s Law, a sweeping
array of penalties and monitoring changes for sex offenders, is
expected to be taken up in the Assembly on Monday.

Convicted child molester John Albert Gardner III pleaded guilty to
raping and murdering 17-year-old Chelsea of Poway in February and
14-year-old Amber of Escondido in 2009. He is serving two life sentences
without the possibility of parole.

“It’s going to be a good feeling, and we haven’t had a good feeling
for a long while,” said Moe Dubois, Amber’s father, anticipating the day
the response-time bills he sponsored become law.

Earlier this week, lawmakers sent to the governor legislation carried by Sen. Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego, designed to provide guidelines for school districts to develop self-defense and safety-awareness programs.

Nathan Fletcher of San Diego, who is carrying Chelsea’s Law, was the only Assembly Republican to support Kehoe’s bill.

Kehoe’s Senate Bill 1290 would apply to grades 7-12. It would require
the state Board of Education to develop course requirements the next
time it revamps curriculum standards. However, school districts could
opt out of the programs.

“We don’t expect this training will prevent every incidence of violence, but it may avoid some,” Kehoe said.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has not taken a position, but a veto could
loom. His top education adviser has sent a letter of opposition because
it is “overly prescriptive.” His department of finance also opposes the
bill.

On Friday, the Assembly unanimously approved measures sponsored by Moe Dubois in cooperation with Assemblymen Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara, and Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley.

Assembly Bill 34 requires the state to report an abduction to a
national tracking system within two hours, instead of the current four
hours.

“When a child is being taken from you a mile a minute, every minute counts,” Dubois said.

Assembly Bill 33 requires better law enforcement coordination to improve abduction response times, training and procedures.

And Assembly Bill 1022 creates the position of “director of missing children operations” to oversee programs.

Scheduled for a Monday vote, Chelsea’s Law establishes longer prison
sentences for violent predators, extended monitoring of paroled sex
offenders on parole and better assessment and treatment programs.