Sexual offenses; prohibiting proximity to victims of the offense, penalty. (HB1505)

Introduced By

Del. Dave Albo (R-Springfield)

Progress

Introduced
Passed Committee
Passed House
Passed Senate
Signed by Governor
Became Law

Description

Sex offenses prohibiting proximity to victims of the offense. Provides that any adult who is convicted of certain sex offenses on or after July 1, 2015, shall be forever prohibited from (i) knowingly having any contact with the victim of the offense and (ii) residing within 1,000 feet of the boundary line of any place he knows is the residence of the victim. Read the Bill »

Outcome

Bill Has Failed

History

DateAction
01/05/2015Committee
01/05/2015Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/14/15 15101320D
01/05/2015Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
01/07/2015Impact statement from VCSC (HB1505)
02/06/2015Impact statement from DPB (HB1505)
02/10/2015Left in Courts of Justice

Comments

Mary Devoy writes:

Delegate Albo is trying to pass a residency restriction law against Virginia Sex Offenders (which would be unconstitutional) without revising § 18.2-370.3. But instead creating a new section 18.2-370.2:1 for “victims” protections from the “Sex Offender” in their specific case. Tricky, tricky, tricky Delegate Albo.

Residency Restrictions are based on myth, fear and hate.

Residency Restrictions DO NOT affect recidivism rates, they do not make society safer and they in fact make a successful reentry back into society for our former-offender much less likely because they increase homelessness and make tracking much more difficult and expensive for the state.

Maia Christopher, head of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers, the group "does not support the use of residence restrictions as a feasible strategy for sex offender management" because of a lack of evidence they do any good.

Florida Cities and Towns Scaling Back Residency Restrictions on Sex Offenders Because Officials Say Buffer Zones Don’t Prevent Repeat Offenses and Make Predators Harder to Track http://goo.gl/xJvGRS

There’s Literally No Evidence That Restricting Where Sex Offenders Can Live Accomplishes Anything http://goo.gl/e5rfJM

Research Won’t Support Dallas Proposal that Amounts to Housing Ban for Sex Offenders http://goo.gl/yfeQsi

More than 30 Reports and Studies on RSO Residency Restrictions http://goo.gl/a1NWwf (scroll half way down the page)

How is an RSO supposed to know where their “victim” resides 1, 3, 5, 10, 15, 25 years after the conviction? Is the state of Virginia going to verify all possible residences for our RSO’s to approve or deny their selections based on where the “victim” lives? There would have to be some sort of mapping and management system created for this law to be enacted because every year Virginia adds an average of 1,008 new RSO’s to the VSP Registry http://goo.gl/NNt34T ?

What if the “victim” is the child, step-child, sibling, grandchild, niece, nephew or cousin of the RSO? With this proposal is the Commonwealth supporting the permanent fracture of families that have mended through restorative justice, therapy, time and forgiveness?

What if the “victim” becomes the RSO’s spouse? We have many 18, 19, 20 and 21 year old Virginians who are prosecuted in Virginia for consensual sexual contact with 14, 15, 16 and 17 year olds. With this proposal the Commonwealth is supporting the creation of a crime that prohibits our citizens from marrying who they chose to marry?

HB1505 is based on ZERO facts, evidence or research.

HB1505 is prejudice, it encourages fear-mongering and government sponsored banishment……….all with a Felony punishment for a conviction and punishment already served by the former-offenders.

HB1505 is NOT an administrative act, it is a punitive act after the court-mandated sentence has been given.

Housing, Employment and support of family all plat a critical roll in any former-offender re-offending years after they have reintegrated back into our communities and HB1505 makes available housing and the support of family a Class 6 Felony in Virginia.

If an RSO is harassing, stalking or abusing their “victim” there are already laws in place to charge the RSO with a new crime for those actions, HB1505 is unnecessary for protecting crime victims from further victimization.

Safer Virginia writes:

The court currently has within its power the ability to discern risk to victims. Under no circumstances should the Commonwealth be setting residence restrictions that disrupt families who may choose a restorative future rather than a punitive one. There is no research-based evidence that residence restrictions reduce sexual offending in any way at any location.

First, the residency restriction increased sex offenders' risks of receiving new convictions due to felony offense, violent crime and property crime, relative to non-sex offenders released during the same period. Second, the adverse effects of the residency restriction on criminal risks are concentrated among 23 sex offenders whose residential choices were more strongly affected by the restriction, namely, those who were required to migrate away from their former residences upon release. Third, sex offenders forced to migrate away from their former residences are more likely to find postrelease residences in high poverty neighborhoods, which in turn aggravates their risks of felony reconviction. Fourth, there is no strong evidence that the rate of repeat sex offenses declined as the result of the residency restriction. These findings are largely consistent with the existing literature, which documents and predicts adverse consequences of the residency restriction on various life outcomes of affected sex offenders, including the risk of general recidivism (Barnes et al. 2009; Levenson and Cotter 2005; Mustaine, Tewksbury and Stengel 2006; Zandbergen and Hart 2006; Zgoba, Levenson and McKee 2009).
Kang, Songman. "The Consequences of Sex Offender Residency Restriction: Evidence from North Carolina." Http://econ.duke.edu/uploads/media_items/kang-songman-jm-paper.original.pdf. Duke University, Jan. 2012. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.

stephen writes:

I'm not shocked Albo wrote the bill, I heard he also wrote The Higher traffic Fines for Virginian's Vs out of state people. I heard rumor that most of the delegates never read that bill before voting yes.