The Honorable Bill Lockyer

California Attorney General

1300 I Street, Suite 1740

Sacramento, CA 95814

 

Re:       College & University Campus Sex Offender Registration

 

Dear Attorney General Lockyer:

 

            As you know, last year California was the first state to adopt legislation (Chapter 544, Statutes of 2001) needed to come into compliance with new federal standards that take effect later this year requiring states to collect information from registered sex offenders about their enrollment or employment at institutions of higher education.

 

One of the main reasons Congress adopted these new standards was to ensure that campus communities receive the same type of information about convicted sex offenders in their midst that other communities currently receive, yet it remains unclear what if any means California plans to use to disseminate any of this information publicly.

 

An excerpt from the October 11, 2000 Congressional Record statement of the federal legislation’s primary sponsor, United States Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, makes it very clear that Congress intended for registered sex offenders on college and university campuses to be publicly identified just like they would be in any other community:

 

The purpose of this provision is to guarantee that, when a convicted sex offender enrolls or begins employment at a college or university, members of the campus community will have the information they need to protect themselves. Put another way, my legislation ensures the availability to students and parents of the information they would already receive--under Megan's Law and related statutes--if a registered sex offender were to move into their own neighborhood.

 

This is a critical public safety issue, members of college and university communities deserve to have access to this information so that they can be better prepared to avoid victimization from sexual predators. It also seems clear that comparable public release of information will be needed to ensure that the new federal standards are met.

 

To ensure that this information would be shared publicly, Congress also amended two federal education laws to help facilitate public dissemination. The federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), a student privacy law, was amended to specifically permit schools to release sex offender registry information, and the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act was amended to require institutions of higher education to notify students and employees where public information about registered sex offenders on campus can be accessed.

 

The law adopted by California last year is also designed to accommodate the public release of information about registered sex offenders on campus. Specifically it provides for the disclosure of an “offender's enrollment, employment, or vocational status with any university, college, community college, or other institution of higher learning.” Making campus sex offender information public was also a priority for the state legislation’s sponsor, Assembly Member Patricia Bates, who issued the following statement when she introduced the bill in December 2000:

 

We should complete the work we began with Megan's Law. The right to know about the threat of sexual predators must apply on campus as well as off… My legislation ensures that students and parents know if a registered sex offender were to enroll or work on a college campus.

 

If the California Department of Justice fails to make campus specific information about registrants public under Megan’s Law a tremendous injustice will be done to innocent members of college and university communities who will needlessly be put at undue risk by being kept in the dark. Accordingly, we strongly encourage you to take steps to ensure that when information about a registrant is made public, on the Megan’s Law CD-ROM for example, at a minimum it includes their enrollment or employment status, if any, at an institution of higher education. In cases involving the highest risk offenders campus police ought to be able to affirmatively notify members of the campus community that the registrant is present on campus, and in what capacity they are there, whether that be as a student, employee, contractor, or volunteer.

 

For your reference, I have enclosed a copy of the federal Campus Sex Crimes Prevention Act (section 1601 of Public Law 106-386) that established the new campus sex offender registry standards, as well as related Congressional Record information detailing the Act’s legislative history and Congressional intent.

 

We thank you in advance for your attention to these critical concerns, and your work to make California college and university campuses safer places. Should you have any questions, or our organization can be of any assistance to you please don’t hesitate to call on us.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

 

S. Daniel Carter

 

Enclosures

 

c.c.:      California Assemblymember Patricia Bates

            United States Senator Jon Kyl

            Detective Sally Miller, Santa Rosa Junior College PD

            Jeff Thompson, Crime Victims United of California

            Terri Hardy, The Sacramento Bee

Jessica R. Higgins, California State Univ.-Sacramento