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SACRAMENTO – Senator Brian W. Jones (R-Santee) has introduced Senate Bill 445, a measure to stop violent sex offenders from being eligible for early release from prison.
“Violent sex offense victims, and the families of victims, should not have to wonder if their attacker will suddenly get out of prison long before they finish their sentence,” stated Senator Jones. "Right now the law is rigged and forces the Board of Parole Hearings to justify why the violent sex offender shouldn’t get out of prison early. This is backwards and wrong. Law-abiding Californians, not violent criminals, should be protected by the law."
A last minute gut-and-amend bill last year, Assembly Bill 3234 (Ting – 2020), lowered the age threshold for elderly parole from 60 years of age to 50 years of age. A loophole in that bill allows violent sex offenders to be eligible for elderly parole after serving only 20 years. Despite the significant societal and fiscal impacts of the bill, AB 3234 was not heard in a single Senate committee.
Jones’s SB 445 would eliminate the loophole allowing violent sex offenders, who happen to reach their 50th birthday while in prison, from automatically being eligible to be considered for early release from prison.
SB 445 is awaiting assignment to a Senate policy committee for hearing.