Stacie L. Patterson Law Blog

On Tuesday, June 29,  “Chelsea’s Law” cleared Senate Public Safety Committee.

Chelsea’s law would change the way sex-offences are managed by increasing the sentences for forcible sex crimes and also instituting a “Containment Model.”  San Diego County’s Probation Department already uses a Containment Model which requires polygraph tests for offenders on probation or parole, and publicly posting each offender’s risk assessment score.  Offenders on parole for 20 or more years will be banned from entering parks.

To compensate for the budget and population adjustment that would be caused by the extended sentences, the sentence for petty theft with a prior will change.  This crime will now be strictly a misdemeanor (instead of a “wobbler” that can be tried as a felony or misdemeanor) and punishable by a year in jail.