Sex offenders targets of crime-bills package

Larry Henry

Wednesday, Jan. 22, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

When Sen. Mark James took his children to see "101 Dalmations" during the Christmas holidays, he didn't anticipate having to deal with a man in the theater who began to masturbate.

James confronted the man and had him arrested.

Now that the Legislature is meeting in Carson City, James, R-Las Vegas, is pushing a stringent agenda against sex offenders.

A proposed bill allowing for chemical castration of repeat rapists and molesters will surface soon as part of that agenda.

Other bills would require constant supervision of mentally ill offenders and drug testing.

Most of the sexual-predator legislation resulted from a subcommittee James chaired last year. The bills were formulated before James' ordeal in the movie theater. But that episode underscored the need for tough laws, he said.

"These people are predators," James said. "One-seventh of our prison population -- about 1,000 people -- are sex offenders. We have to protect the community for when they get out."

One critic of chemical castration said it would result in an injustice if a wrongly accused man is given an injection, even if the injection is voluntary as a condition of parole.

"I would not favor that bill," said Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas. "What if they got the wrong guy?"

Such criticism has not deterred James, who some think will run for attorney general in 1998. James said he is not considering his political future beyond the 1997 session, which is expected to end this summer.

But James, who was successful last session in winning approval of a truth-in-sentencing law, is again trying to claim center stage in the politically popular fight against crime.

Later in this session, James will introduce a separate package of prison-reform bills developed with Rep. John Ensign, R-Nev. Those bills would deprive prisoners of privileges such as hot plates and cigarettes.

Meanwhile, five bills to curb sex crimes have already been introduced in the Senate and referred to the Judiciary Committee, which James chairs.

They are:

* SB4, requiring parolees to submit to periodic drug tests as a condition of parole.

* SB5, requiring those convicted of attempted sexual assault and other crimes to undergo mental evaluation by a certified panel before being granted parole or probation.

* SB6, requiring officials to tell sexual-offense victims if their assailant is to be released from jail.

* SB7, requiring lifetime supervision of mentally ill offenders.

* SB8, requiring offenders who pleaded guilty but mentally ill to submit to psychiatric evaluation by a certified panel before receiving parole or probation.

The chemical castration bill will be introduced in the Senate in about a week, James said.

Assemblywoman Genie Ohrenschall, D-Las Vegas, said she will also introduce a castration bill. A conference committee would have to work out differences in the measures.

Ohrenschall served on the subcommittee with James studying criminal sexual behavior.

In June, the subcommittee developed a proposal to allow repeat sex offenders to undergo voluntary hormone injections before being paroled, Ohrenschall said.

The procedure, which is not permanent, theoretically reduces the sex drive, she said.

Neal said that the hoopla over California's chemical castration law may have led some Nevada legislators to overreact.

"No one has demonstrated the need in Nevada," he said.

The California law, which Gov. Pete Wilson signed in September, took effect this month. It requires weekly hormone injections for those convicted of a second serious sex offense against a child under 13. The drug used in California is Depo-Provera, a woman's birth-control drug that in men lowers testosterone levels, and therefore the sex drive.

Some medical experts question the technique, pointing out that many rapists and molesters are driven by the urge to overpower and control rather than the urge to have sex.

A Danish study of more than 900 chemically impotent offenders, however, found a repeater rate of just 2.2 percent.