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Calif parole policy slammed after records dumped
Posted: 03/24/2010 12:12:53 PM PDT
Updated: 03/24/2010 01:44:34 PM PDT
<snipped>
California lawmakers on Wednesday criticized a corrections department policy of destroying parole agents' field notes a year after ex-convicts were released from supervision.

Scott Kernan, undersecretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said key portions of Gardner's field file had been transferred to his central file, which is kept indefinitely.
He apologized repeatedly to lawmakers because other top corrections officials had told lawmakers and media, including The Associated Press, that no records on Gardner's parole remained. Several days passed before it was revealed that portions still existed.

Kernan said the department soon will begin a several-year process of scanning its voluminous paper records into an electronic database and will one day be able to keep all records on all inmates indefinitely. That wasn't enough to satisfy members of the committee.


Article:
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_14749378
 
Parole official defends destruction of files
Undersecretary says destroyed field notes had no bearing on Gardner case

March 24, 2010 at 12:26 p.m.
<snipped>
State prison authorities said Wednesday that destroying parole agent field notes on convicted sex offender John Albert Gardner III from a 2000 molestation case had no bearing on preventing the murder of Poway teenager Chelsea King.

Scott Kernan, an undersecretary with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, also told an Assembly committee that Gardner remained on parole -- rather than being sent back to prison on a 2007 violation -- based on the recommendation of the field agent supervising him. But a critic of state parole policy, former Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, later said Kernan&#8217;s testimony is not credible because he did not have the field files to know.

For example, Spitzer believes it was a supervisor -- and not the field agent -- who allowed Gardner to continue living close to a school in violation of his parole conditions, said Spitzer, now an Orange County prosecutor.

Kernan appeared before the committee for about an hour, defending the prison agency&#8217;s policy of destroying field files kept on parolees a year after being discharged. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has since rescinded that policy for sex offenders.

*More at link!

Recommendations
After taking testimony, the committee voted to ask the prison agency to:
*Establish an ongoing review of document-retention polices to determine appropriate periods before any records are destroyed.
*Explain when sex offender records will be computerized as part of a broader prison effort to digitize documents of prisoners and parolees.
*Explain how and why prison officials determined that they only need to keep notes from the field for one year after discharge before destroying some, but moving other records into a separate central file.
*Clarify whose records are covered under the new permanent retention policy for field files kept on sex offenders.


Article:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/mar/24/parole-official-defends-handling-gardner-case/
 
Community reacts to violent death of Poway jogger
Published: Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Updated: Wednesday, March 24, 2010
<snipped>
This past weekend, more than three thousand San Diegans walked, jogged or ran the three-mile route that King never finished. The group grieved together, saying it was what King would have wanted. Kelly King, Chelsea&#8217;s mother, cheered everyone on as they finished their run in Rancho Bernardo Community Park, &#8220;taking back the park as their own.&#8221;

During the symbolic run, organizers collected over $5,100 in donations for the Chelsea&#8217;s Light Foundation, the non-profit organization created by her parents, which is working to strengthen laws pertaining to sex offenders.

The story is starting to look and sound painfully familiar. Amber Dubois, 14 years old at the time, disappeared on her way to school just over a year ago. school just over a year ago. Her body was discovered shortly after King&#8217;s. Both King and Dubois were 5&#8217;5&#8217;&#8217;, young, blue-eyed and beautiful with strikingly similar facial features. When Amber&#8217;s father heard about the arrest he &#8220;strongly suspected&#8221; that Gardner was also responsible for his daughter&#8217;s abduction. Gardner remains a suspect in the Dubois case.

If convicted for the murder of King, Gardner could face the death penalty. A preliminary hearing will occur on Aug. 4.
As new information continues to be uncovered and laws against sex predators are re-examined, the public continues to remember and support these two young women and their families. As their Facebook fan page says, &#8220;You will never be forgotten, you have inspired us all over the nation.&#8221;


Article:
http://www.theusdvista.com/news/community-reacts-to-violent-death-of-poway-jogger-1.1279043
 
Bill proposes banning sex offenders from parks
Posted: Mar 24, 2010 6:08 PM EDT
Updated: Mar 24, 2010 6:08 PM EDT
<snipped>
South Carolina legislators want to ban sex offenders from entering state parks after a jogger in California was killed as she ran alone.

State Rep. Chip Limehouse said on Wednesday the measure is a response to the rape and murder of 17-year-old Chelsea King in a park north of San Diego last month

The bill has 38 of 124 House members as co-sponsors and goes to the House Judiciary Committee.


Article:
http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=12198794
 
Bill proposes banning sex offenders from SC parks
Published: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 6:04 p.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 6:04 p.m.
<snipped>
South Carolina legislators want to ban sex offenders from entering state parks after a California jogger who went for a run in a park was killed. Registered sex offenders who break that ban would pay up to $200 in fines or be sent to prison for 30 days. The legislation also would require the state's parks agency to post warnings to the public after an attack that remains unsolved.

A California legislator plans to introduce a similar bill.

Last year, the Hammond, La., city council banned registered sex offenders from entering city parks and recreation facilities amid concerns about the number of sex offenders living nearby.


Article:
http://www.dailycomet.com/article/2...-proposes-banning-sex-offenders-from-SC-parks
 
Prison officials grilled over Gardner, records
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
<snipped>
California's corrections department was in the hot seat Wednesday about dumping parole records too quickly. A hearing was held Wednesday just weeks after convicted sex offender John Gardner was charged with the murder of Chelsea King. Gardner's parole records were destroyed not long after his release.

Destroying field parole records has been the state's practice for decades because there's not enough space to store all that paper.

"What do you need? Do you need a scanner? Do you need a hard drive?" said Fletcher.

"We do not have the ability to have our systems automated," said Kernan. "The fact that we have an agency in 2010 that doesn't have the ability to scan and retain documents electronically is kind of shocking," said Fletcher.

"The Legislature approved the funding for that. And it's a multi-year project," said Kernan. "When will that be done?" said Fletcher. "Well, it's going to take several years," said Kernan


Video: Prison officials grilled over Gardner, records 2:31
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/video?id=7349271

Article:
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/state&id=7349270
 
&#8216;Upbeat&#8217; memorial to celebrate Amber
Escondido girl&#8217;s love of animals to be highlighted

Thursday, March 25, 2010 at 2:31 a.m.
<snipped>
On Saturday, a memorial for the freckle-faced freshman will be held at the Escondido High School stadium, an event her family has designed to celebrate Amber&#8217;s life and to comfort those aching over her death.

Amber&#8217;s memorial will pay tribute to Chelsea and to Danielle van Dam and Polly Klaas, two other slain children whose parents offered support to Amber&#8217;s parents over the agonizing months.

Brenda and Damon van Dam lost their 7-year-old daughter, Danielle, in 2002, when she was abducted from their Sabre Springs home by a neighbor and murdered.

Polly Klaas, 12, was kidnapped from her Northern California home by a stranger and murdered in 1993. Dubois and McGonigle asked Polly&#8217;s father, Marc Klaas, and his KlaasKids Foundation for Children to help search for Amber.

On Saturday, the parents of all four girls will release doves in their honor.

Agriculture teacher Mark Reyburn will join Amber&#8217;s parents and friends as a speaker Saturday. Amber also leaves behind a younger sister, Allison, now 6.

McGonigle said her hope for the memorial is that &#8220;everybody leaves knowing who Amber was and that everyone leaves knowing that she lived a good life.&#8221;

*More at link!

AMBER DUBOIS MEMORIAL
*When: 1 to 2 p.m. Saturday
*Where: Escondido High School stadium, 1535 N. Broadway, Escondido
*Shuttles: Noon to 3 p.m. from Escondido United Reformed Church, 1864 N. Broadway.


Article:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/mar/25/upbeat-memorial-to-celebrate-amber/
 
Public memorial for Amber Dubois Saturday
Watch a live stream of the Amber Dubois memorial this Saturday starting at 1 p.m. on cbs8.com.
Posted: Mar 25, 2010 10:24 PM EDT
Updated: Mar 25, 2010 10:38 PM EDT
<snipped>
A public memorial will be held this Saturday to remember Amber Dubois.

The 14-year-old's remains were found earlier this month north of the Pala Indian Reservation.


Article:
http://www.760kfmb.com/Global/story.asp?S=12207671
 
REGION: Reward money in Chelsea, Amber cases goes unclaimed
More than $100,000 offered in Amber's case, family says

March 25, 2010 7:29 pm
<snipped>
Thousands of dollars in reward money were offered by various organizations to anyone who could help solve the disappearance of two North County teens ---- Chelsea King and Amber Dubois ---- but it's unclear whether the bulk of the money ever will be claimed.

In the King case, the reward is no longer available because authorities found Chelsea's body.

In Amber's case, it's unclear who or what led authorities to her body, so the reward money remains in limbo.

More than $100,000 in reward money was offered in the search for 14-year-old Amber, the Escondido girl who was missing for more than a year until her remains were found March 6 a few miles north of the Pala Indian Reservation.

No one claimed the reward money that Crime Stoppers offered in each of the cases, Cox said, and it is unlikely that anyone will.

That is because no one made a tip through the organization that led to finding either of the girls, Cox said.

A source cannot give information directly to authorities to help them solve a crime and then claim the reward ---- the tip must have come through Crime Stoppers first to be eligible for the reward, she said.

*More at link!

Article:
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/sdcounty/article_56a5b699-98cb-54f2-ac6d-792ef2520961.html
 
ESCONDIDO: Amber Dubois' memorial set for Saturday
March 25, 2010 8:11 pm
<snipped>
With animals, video and live music, Saturday's public memorial for Amber Dubois is designed to be a bittersweet mix of a celebration of life and a heartbreaking goodbye. "People will be able to get to know Amber the way her family knows her and her friends know her," Amber's mother Carrie McGonigle said Thursday. "There will be a lot of stories told (about Amber)."

Amber's memorial service , which will run for about an hour, will include a number of animals ---- farm and exotic. Among them will be a wolf, the animal most dear to the teenage girl, McGonigle said. The Heroes, a longtime San Diego staple for weddings and corporate concerts, will provide live music at the service, said Karyl O'Brien, the spokeswoman for the Escondido Union High School District.

Amber's parents will speak at the event, which will also be attended by Chelsea's parents. Marc Klaas, a noted child safety advocate whose daughter Polly was kidnapped and killed in 1993, will speak at the memorial. Klaas aided in the search for Amber.

Also expected to attend is the family of Danielle van Dam, who was abducted from her Sabre Springs bedroom in February 2002. Her remains were found a few weeks later; a neighbor was convicted in her slaying and is now on death row.


Article:
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/escondido/article_a62880b3-ee77-56dc-8271-c7a3877a68c5.html
 
Preparations Begin For Amber Dubois Memorial
POSTED: 3:13 pm PDT March 26, 2010
UPDATED: 3:53 pm PDT March 26, 2010
<snipped>
Escondido teen Amber Dubois was laid to rest Friday at a private service in Los Angeles, and the community will celebrate Amber's life at a public memorial on Saturday.

Sablan organized the recent run in honor of Chelsea King. He's helping the Dubois family with the memorial preparation. "I'm just here because I have a 15-year-old daughter myself, and my heart goes out to the family of both Chelsea and Amber, because when I think of Chelsea I think of Amber, and when I think of Amber I think of Chelsea," said Sablan.

Four doves will be released in memory of Amber, Chelsea, Danielle Van Dam and Polly Klaas -- all young girls who've been murdered.

Mark Klass will host the ceremony, and the family of all four girls will be in attendance.

The stadium will be filled with 1,200 blue carnations, as blue was Amber's favorite color.

Brenda Van Dam, Danielle's mother, is actually organizing much of what will be seen Saturday.


Video: Community Prepares For Amber Dubois Memorial 2:05
http://www.10news.com/video/22969894/

Article:
http://www.10news.com/news/22970051/detail.html
 
Governor makes sex offender board appointment
Friday, March 26, 2010 at 11:12 a.m
<snipped>
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger filled one of three vacancies on the state&#8217;s 17-member Sex Offender Management Board Friday, appointing Robert Coombs, 30, the Sacramento director of public affairs for the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault. The positions on the Sex Offender Management Board are volunteer. The board was created in 2006 to make California communities safer from sex offenders.

Article:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/mar/26/governor-makes-sex-offender-board-appointment/
 
Amber, Chelsea Rewards Likely Going Unclaimed
Crime Stoppers helps in 3,900+ arrests, 105 homicides

Updated 4:15 PM PDT, Fri, Mar 26, 2010
<snipped>
It's looking as though the reward money offered for help in the Chelsea King and Amber DuBois cases won't be collected any time soon -- if at all. The highest-profile, local reward program for crime-solving tips is San Diego County Crime Stoppers. That organization offers just a fraction of the money paid by other nonprofits and the governor's office. The public has often gotten big bang for those bucks.

Since the organization was established in 1984, Crime Stoppers has helped solve more than 3,900 crimes -- 105 of them, homicides. The governor's office has a $40,000 reward out in the DuBois case, but it's not payable until there's a conviction.


Article:
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/loc...-Rewards-Likely-Going-Unclaimed-89299292.html
 
Funeral Held for Amber Dubois
Updated 5:45 PM PDT, Fri, Mar 26, 2010
<snipped>
The family of Amber Dubois held a service Friday ahead of Saturday's public memorial. The private funeral was held Friday in Orange County for Escondido teenager Amber Dubois, who was 14 years old when she was last seen alive on Feb. 13, 2009. The small service was just for family and friends.

A public memorial for Amber is planned for Saturday. It will begin at 1 p.m. at Escondido High School. NBCSanDiego will be live-streaming the services.


Article:
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local-beat/Funeral-Held-for-Amber-Dubois-89306212.html
 
REGION: Sex offenders share lack of empathy
Experts say refusal to acknowledge crime increases chance of new offense

March 26, 2010 7:53 pm
<snipped>
Some are young, some are old, some are middle-aged. They can be poor, wealthy or middle-class. Some are smart, some not so smart.

While researchers say sex offenders fit no typical profile, they share the characteristics of deviant sexual arousal, interests or preferences, according to the U.S. Department of Justice's Center for Sex Offender Management.

Those include sexual contact with young children or adolescents; sexual contact with others against their will; inflicting pain or humiliation on others; taking part in or watching violent acts; exposing themselves in public; and secretly watching others undress or engage in sexual contact. When they commit their crimes, nearly all sex offenders are aware that what they are doing is illegal and harmful to their victim, the center says.


Lack of empathy
San Diego clinical psychologist Dr. Michael Mantell has worked with sex offenders for decades and says most share a characteristic: "These are people with tremendous deficits of empathy."

Someone who kills in the commission of a rape or an attempted rape, as Gardner is accused of doing, is considered a "lust murderer." "They enjoy watching their victim suffer," Mantell said.


No simple cures
A report issued by the California Sex Offender Management Board in January cautions that there is no magic formula for identifying, treating or monitoring sex offenders. "No two sex offenders pose the same level of risk, nor can they be managed or supervised in identical ways," the report concluded. "Similarly, policymakers and the public should be suspicious of any one technology or strategy which promises to solve the problem of sex offenders."

Politics and recidivism
Calls for mandatory "one-strike" laws that would lock up a sex offender for life after a single conviction came shortly after Gardner was arrested. In fact, numerous studies of convicted sex offenders show that the majority are never arrested for a second sex offense.

*Much more at link!

*California sex offender recidivism breakdown:
~Returned to prison because of new sex offense within three years: 3.5 percent
~Returned to prison because of a new nonsex offense within three years: 4.5 percent
~Returned to prison for parole violation: 35.5 percent
*Source: California Sex Offender Management Board January 2008 Report to the Legislature. Study followed 4,287 sex offenders released from state prisons in 2003.


*General recidivism rates among 2005 California parolees returned to prison within two years:
~Vehicle theft: 67 percent
~Possession of a controlled substance: 62 percent
~Robbery: 52 percent
~Burglary: 52 percent to 59 percent depending on classification of crime
~Forgery: 48 percent
~Arson: 46 percent
~Sexual penetration with an object: 34 percent
~Lewd act with a child: 32 percent. This is the charge for which Chelsea King homicide suspect John Albert Gardner was convicted of in 2000.
~Rape: 28 percent
~Murder: 3.3 percent
*Source: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The individuals in the study were returned to prison because of new offenses or violation of their parole conditions.


Article:
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/sdcounty/article_1e6eda8a-8735-50db-95bc-4bad80e4285a.html
 
Brittany Hart's family ready to push for Chelsea's Law
Posted: Mar 25, 2010 10:55 PM EDT
Updated: Mar 26, 2010 1:57 AM EDT
<snipped>
A registered sex offender murders a young woman and dumps her body in a remote area. We're not talking about Chelsea King or Amber Dubois. We're talking about the murder of Brittany Hart in 2007. Now the Hart family is joining a call to action. "Here it is three years later and there's not a second that goes by that Brittany's not on my mind," said Brandy Reynolds, Hart's sister.

When sex offender Robert Carson grabbed a hammer and beat 24-year-old Brittany Hart to death in his Spring Valley home, nobody proposed a one-strike law or lifetime GPS monitoring for sex predators. "It's horrible. It took Brittany and Chelsea and Amber to finally get somebody to listen and do something about these monsters," Reynolds said. "There are so many similarities between Gardner and Carson it is baffling," Reynolds said. "And how they let these monsters back out on the streets, I will never understand."

Robert Carson pleaded guilty to murder to avoid the death penalty and received 91 years to life in prison. He currently is being evaluated at the Donovan Correctional Facility in Otay Mesa, but will soon be transferred to another state prison.


Brittany Hart - YouTube tribute
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7rsyOgCfPE[/ame]

Video: Brittany Hart's family ready to push for Chelsea's Law 2:18
http://www.cbs8.com/global/category...default&clipId=4654739&flvUri=&partnerclipid=

Video: Brittany Hart's family ready to push for Chelsea's Law 0:50
http://www.cbs8.com/global/category...default&clipId=4654100&flvUri=&partnerclipid=

Article:
http://www.cbs8.com/Global/story.asp?S=12207776
 

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