A poll by a Fox station in Fresno shows 79% of the public thinks sex offenders can be rehabilitated. But this appears not to have been noticed by the California legislature, which thinks they can always gain votes by demonizing sexual misconduct. Alarmed because parole had been granted to two elderly sex offenders, both of whom have served 27 years, legislators advanced a bill to limit elderly release, giving it unanimous bi-partisan support in committee. One elderly offender had been originally sentenced to 355 years to life, the other to three consecutive 25-years-to-life terms, plus an additional 20 years. According to Keith Wattley, of the non-profit UnCommon Law, not a single sex offender paroled through California’s elderly release program, which began in 2014, has re-offended. The elderly release program was initiated in response to a court decision requiring the state to address prison over-crowding, based on research showing that elderly offenders are very unlikely to commit new crimes.
Louisiana lawmakers also consider rehabilitation of sex offenders impossible, having passed a measure to make castration mandatory in certain cases. One 40-year old man who pleaded guilty to sexual conduct with a family member under the age of 13 was recently sentenced to 45 years in prison plus castration, which seems gratuitous given that he would be 85 by the time he gets out.
