Political Horizons for Sept. 6, 2009

• By MARK BALLARD
• Capitol news bureau
• Published: Sep 6, 2009

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Within a mile of my home in Baton Rouge’s Garden District live 15 convicted sex offenders, according to the online state registry.

Like many hand-wringing fathers, these periodic web checks are prompted by the news. In the most-recent story, convicted rapist Phillip Garrido of Antioch, Calif., was charged after the discovery of a 29-year-old woman whom he allegedly snatched off the streets as an 11-year-old.

What was most scary was that after getting out of prison in August 1988, Garrido was on the sex offender registry. He sent the post cards. He visited with parole officers. He did everything required of him by California law, which is far more strict and comprehensive than Louisiana  law.

At the same time Garrido also allegedly kidnapped a young girl and held her for 18 years.

Elected officials respond to parental anxiety with pithy feel-good measures that do little to actually protect children.

For instance, at the prompting of Gov. Bobby Jindal, the Louisiana Legislature passed nine bills during the past session that made about three dozen changes to state laws. The changes broadened who could be charged with a crime against a child, stiffened penalties and changed procedures.

But the one bill that would have prevented someone from abducting a child was withdrawn because it was too expensive: $12 million over a five-year period.

House Bill 713 would have allowed courts to order convicted individuals to participate in intense and highly supervised treatment upon their release from prison, possibly for the rest of their lives. Research shows that 13 percent to 52 percent of “sexually dangerous” convicts victimize more children after fulfilling their prison sentences. About 460 people convicted of predatory crimes against children were in Louisiana prisons back in May, according to testimony. About 200 of them will be released during the next few years.

State Rep. Fred Mills Jr., D-St. Martinville, withdrew his HB713. “The dollar sign is what scared us,” Mills said last week.

With limited funds available because of a shortfall in state revenues, Mills said he didn’t want to put his colleagues in the position of cutting funds for, say, programs to help the developmentally disabled, in order to treat child-molesters.

Mills and Alan Levine, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, promised to try again. DHH was the bill’s primary promoter.

Both also mentioned how they would much prefer just to confine these people forever. “I’m unapologetic about that,” Levine said.

In the real world, there are good reasons to support supervised treatment rather than lifelong incarceration.