Supervising sex offenders

Thursday, Oct. 7, 1999 | 12:11 p.m.

Lifetime supervision

Nevada law now allows judges to sentence sex offenders to lifetime supervision by the Division of Parole and Probation after they are released from prison -- even if they are not given life sentences. Here are the offenses that can carry lifetime supervision:

Aproposal for the establishment of a program of lifetime supervision for sex offenders is drawing praise from anti-rape advocates and concern from civil rights activists.

Some court officials, however, say they are taking a wait-and-see approach to how a heavily burdened parole and probation department will meet the extra responsibility of handling the more than 200 sex offenders currently in Nevada prisons who one day will require lifetime supervision.

To that end the Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners will hear a proposal for a lifetime supervision program for sex offenders and take testimony from the public at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the Nevada Highway Patrol training room, 2601 E. Sahara Ave.

The 1995 Nevada law that resulted in the need for such a program marks the first time that those sentenced to nonlife terms in Nevada will be forced to report to the Division of Parole and Probation for the rest of their lives, Susan McCurdy, executive secretary of the Parole Board, said.

"This will affect various degrees of sex offenders sentenced under a particular scenario," McCurdy said. "We are getting ready for when they come up (for parole)."

The law addresses several types of crimes that would carry lifetime supervision, including rape of adults or children and other sexual acts involving children.

Several court officials say the law is the product of the Nevada Legislature taking a tough posture on the emotional issue of child molestation regardless of whether it can be enforced.

Sex offenses against children "is the sweetheart issue of the 1990s and this law is an offshoot of Megan's Law," said Clark County Deputy Public Defender Joe Abood, referring to 7-year-old Megan Kanka of New Jersey who in 1991 was raped and strangled by a paroled convict in her neighborhood.

"But what does lifetime supervision really mean? To an overburdened parole and probation officer it could wind up being a phone call where he asks 'Are you working? Have you stayed out of trouble? Talk to you next month.' "

Renata Cirri, executive director of Community Action Against Rape, which operates the Las Vegas Rape Crisis Center, is glad to see parole and probation preparing to enforce lifetime supervision of sex offenders.

"Lifetime supervision definitely is necessary because most sex offenders are repeat offenders," she said. "This gives (law enforcement) more leverage in dealing with these crimes."

But Allen Lichtenstein, general counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, questions whether it is appropriate to impose lifetime parole supervision on people who do not receive life sentences.

"This is a concern for the ACLU because it raises several (constitutional) questions," he said. "Not to minimize sexual offenses like rape and child molestation, but clinical studies don't support that someone who commits those crimes will do it again.

"This was not well thought out. In just reading the statute, it appears heavy-handed and does not appear to fit its purported purpose."

Lichtenstein said that while lifetime supervision would apply to those convicted of serious sex crimes, it also applies to those who are convicted of incest and those who are found guilty of committing "unlawful penetration of a dead human body."

"The ACLU is not against lifetime supervision," Lichtenstein said. "But it should be applied more judiciously against those who commit crimes that are far more of a threat to the public than incest and necrophilia."

Nevada prison records indicate that as of Oct. 6, there were 219 sex offense inmates who one day will be required to undergo lifetime parole supervision. In all there are 1,115 sex offenders in Nevada prisons -- 11.7 percent of the 9,500-plus inmate population.

Jurists like longtime District Judge Donald Mosley have no choice but to order lifetime supervision for certain sex offenders as mandated under Nevada law.

"The practical application of this law was to keep these people in tow," Mosley said. "It works hand-in-hand with the law that says they must register (with police) as sex offenders.

"Next to murder, no crime is as emotionally stirring as sexual abuse of children. I've been on the bench 20 years and I understand why someone kills. I understand why someone commits robbery. But I will never understand why someone sexually assaults a 3-year-old child and I am amazed at the frequency of these crimes."

Vicki Monroe, a deputy district attorney who is in charge of the Crimes Against Women and Children Unit, has prosecuted numerous sex offenders and agrees that the sole purpose of the lifetime supervision law "is to keep an eye on pedophiles."

The law is not meant, she said, as a deterrent to such crimes, though some potential offenders might think twice about acting on their urges if they consider that they will have to report to a parole officer for the rest of their lives after serving lengthy prison sentences.

"This law does not deter the true pedophile, just as death is not a deterrent to murder," Monroe said.

Assistant District Attorney Chuck Thompson said the violation of lifetime parole is a felony that carries a one-to-six-year prison sentence and a $5,000 fine. However, he said his office to date has not been called upon by parole and probation to conduct such prosecutions.

Abood says it is possible that the lifetime supervision law may have added to the burden of the courts, because marginal cases that otherwise could have been negotiated to the benefit of all parties wind up going to trial because of the threat of lifetime supervision.

"Many of these cases go to trial because even if the DA offers to drop the charge to a lesser sex crime -- like from sexual assault to lewdness -- the client will still face lifetime supervision," Abood said. "Many times they will say forget the deal, let's take our chances at trial."

Monroe said there are lesser charges she can offer that still obtain a conviction without burdening marginal offenders with lifetime supervision. Among them are coercion, felony child abuse and neglect or annoying a minor.

The cost is a sticking point for some state officials, who note that no money was allocated to enforce the law.

"Legislators have a habit of passing these type of laws, yet they don't properly fund parole and probation to get the job done," said one court official who asked for anonymity. "Lawmakers just expect it to get done."

The cost of the supervision, the division notes, should be carried by the parolees, who are required by state law to pay $30 a month as long as they are under supervision.

However that major selling point to gain public support for the law can be misleading, Mosley said, noting that some parolees just won't have the money, and a lack of income is not grounds for a judge to send a parolee back to prison.

"If the offender meets regularly with his parole officer and stays out of trouble but lives in a cardboard box, I can't revoke him simply for being poor," Mosley said. "And you know who will pick up that cost if he is unable to pay it."

Given that employers are not rushing to hire released sex offenders -- especially child molesters -- the number of lifetime parolees who cannot afford to pay for their own supervision could be significant and thus costly to the state and taxpayers.

The proposed regulations before the parole commissioners on Tuesday include a timetable for the Department of Prisons to notify the Division of Parole and Probation as to which sex offender inmates would be subject to lifetime supervision and how to determine the conditions of such supervision.

The law provides for sex offenders to petition for release from lifetime supervision after they have been out of prison for 15 years and if they can show that they are not likely to pose a further threat to society.

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