Legal News

Long Beach bans sex offenders living by child-care centers and beaches

By Jason Siegel

The Long Beach City Council voted unanimously to ban people on parole for committing sex offenses from living within 2,000 feet of child-care centers, parks, beaches and schools, CBS 8 reported.

They also won't be allowed to loiter within 300 feet of areas where children congregate. The ordinance was in response to a resident's concern about 15 registered sex offenders living in a 12-unit apartment building.

The ordinance is stricter than Jessica's Law, which restricts sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a park or school. The L.A. Legal Pad reported last month about a report by the state's Sex Offender Management Board echoing concerns that the law may make sex offenders more likely to re-offend and that specifications of the law are unclear (i.e. funding, how the 2,000 foot restriction is determined, who enforces breaking this restriction and how they are penalized).

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on March 13, 2008 (boomark / email).