System adopted for lifetime supervision of sexual offenders

Wednesday, Oct. 13, 1999 | 9:43 a.m.

Imposed conditions

During a parole board hearing, all or part of the following special conditions can be imposed for sex offenders on lifetime supervision:

The parolee's residence and place of employment must be approved by his parole and probation officer and he could be required to abide by a curfew.

The offender must complete a program of professional counseling. If he was convicted of a sex offense against a person younger than 14, he also can be required to participate in psychological counseling.

The parolee must submit to periodic drug testing and polygraph testing or must abstain from alcohol consumption.

The offender must not communicate with his victim or anyone who testified against him or solicit another person to contact his victim or witnesses.

He cannot use aliases or fictitious names and he cannot obtain a post office box without the permission of his parole and probation officer.

The offender cannot have contact with a person under the age of 18 in a secluded environment unless another adult who has not been convicted of a sex offense is present. That rule extends to any contact with a person under the age of 14 if the parolee's victim was under age 14.

The parolee cannot be in or near a playground, school, a motion picture theater or in any business that primarily has children as its customers. That rule extends to day care facilities, video arcades or amusement parks if a person was convicted of a sex offense with a child under 14.

The Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners has adopted a proposal for the establishment of a program of lifetime supervision for sex offenders.

The seven-member panel accepted the proposal as drafted Tuesday during a public meeting in which no one spoke either for or against the regulations that set up a timetable for the Department of Prisons to inform the Department of Parole and Probation of pending release dates of sex offenders.

Anyone convicted of a series of sex offenses including rape of children and adults and other sex crimes against children since July 1, 1995, must be supervised for life even if a judge did not impose a life sentence.

Currently, there are more than 200 sex offenders sentenced to lifetime parole supervision in Nevada after they finish serving their prison terms.

"The action was taken now because the first of those who were convicted under that new law soon will be coming up for parole," said Parole Commission Chairman Don Denison, a former local law enforcement officer and ex-Metro Police assistant sheriff.

"The purpose of the conditions we impose are to help an offender not put himself in position to commit another offense."

Asked if the added workload of lifetime supervision of sex offenders will pose a great burden for parole and probation officers, Denison said: "We supervise 12,000 to 14,000 people, so 200 is a drop in the bucket. Also, our board holds 700 hearings a year. A few more each year won't significantly add to that."

The regulations approved Tuesday require the Department of Prisons to prepare for parole officials a list of inmates who require lifetime supervision for sex offenses "not less than 120 days prior to the projected month of discharge."

Inmates then will appear before a three-member parole board that will impose a series of conditions that include no contact with children and staying out of movie theaters, amusement parks and schools.

A conviction for violating any of the conditions is a felony that carries a one-to-six-year prison sentence, a $5,000 fine or both, Denison said.

The 1995 Nevada law that led to Tuesday's action marks the first time that those sentenced to nonlife terms in Nevada will be forced to report to parole officers for the rest of their lives.

It is an offshoot of "Megan's Law," named after 7-year-old Megan Kanka of New Jersey, who in 1991 was raped and strangled by a paroled convict in her neighborhood.

The local law's supporters include Community Action Against Rape, which believes that lifetime supervision is necessary because many sex offenders are repeat offenders.

However, 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. They say the law raises serious constitutional questions.

A spokesperson for the ACLU says that while his organization does not oppose lifetime supervision in some cases, the Nevada statute that mandates lifetime supervision of sex offenders was "not well-thought out" and "heavy-handed."