STUDY SUPPORTS PLAN TO MONITOR EX-FELONS

Senate Debates The Satellite System Proposed To Keep Track Of All Child-
Sex Offenders For Life

TALLAHASSEE -- Legislation requiring high-tech satellite monitoring of
sex offenders would represent a shift in policy by the state
Department of Corrections, which currently uses electronic
surveillance to monitor less dangerous criminals, including drug offenders.

But a new report from legislative analysts supports the main premise
of the Jessica Lunsford Act, asserting that the sophisticated and
expensive satellite monitoring is best suited for high-risk offenders,
including sexual predators.

Those findings, which were released in a report earlier this month by
the Legislature's Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government
Accountability, came as the Senate debated legislation on Wednesday
filed in response to the murder of Jessica Lunsford, a 9-year-old
Homosassa girl. The bill is also related to the killing earlier this
month of Sarah Lunde, a 13-year-old Hillsborough County girl. In both
cases, the men charged with the murders are sex offenders with violent
pasts.

After amending the bill, the Senate is scheduled to vote on the
measure (HB 1877) today, which would send the bill back to the House
for further consideration. Sen. Nancy Argenziano, R-Dunnellon, said
the bill is aimed at preventing more deaths by keeping violent sex
offenders in prison for a longer time and by more closely monitoring
the offenders if they are released from prison.

"This is for all of our children who have been sexually molested and
those who have been murdered," Argenziano said. "We have a very
comprehensive approach."

The central provision in the bill would require a minimum mandatory
sentence of 25 years to life for criminals who sexually molest
children younger than 12. If the felons are eventually released from
prison, they would be tracked through a satellite system that would
constantly monitor their movements.

The bill also requires post-prison electronic monitoring for felons
who molest teenagers between the ages of 12 and 15.

Under current policy, serious sex offenders are not always the ones
who end up on electronic monitoring in the Department of Corrections
system, according to the OPPAGA report.

Of the 705 criminals on electronic monitoring as of December 2004, 70
percent of the felons were under community control supervision, a
prison diversion program reserved for lessdangerous criminals. Of the
500 community control criminals being monitored, 43 percent had been
convicted of less serious crimes, including property and drug offenses.

Only 30 percent of the electronic surveillance was used for the more
serious habitual criminals and sex offenders who were on conditional
release or probation programs.

Sen. Rod Smith, D-Alachua, a former state prosecutor who helped write
the Lunsford bill, said one of the goals of the legislation is to
change the state monitoring policy to focus on the more serious criminals.

"What we want to do is switch that," Smith said. "I'm not concerned
about finding Martha Stewart. I know where she is. I'm more concerned
about finding out where the more dangerous people are."

The OPPAGA report also notes that the most effective form of
monitoring is the active satellite system, which provides "realtime"
locations of the felons and can alert authorities if a criminal
approaches an "exclusion zone," such as a school or playground.

It's also the most widely used system, as 70 percent of the monitored
felons are on the active satellite system, while another 27 percent
are monitored by a lessreliable radio frequency system. The others are
on a passive satellite system, which provides reports that must later
be reviewed for activity.

But the satellite monitoring is the most expensive system. It costs
roughly $9 a day per felon for the satellite tracking, compared with
$2.34 a day for the radio frequency system.

Under the Lunsford bill, the satellite coverage would be expanded by
the addition of 1,200 monitoring units -- which normally require the
felons to wear an ankle or wrist bracelet and carry a transmitter. The
units would cost $3.9 million a year to operate.

The OPPAGA report notes that less than 1 percent of the 116,277
criminals that are being actively supervised in Florida communities
through probation and community control programs are subject to
electronic monitoring.

It also notes that generally those offenders under electronic
monitoring are less likely to commit new crimes when compared with
those in other release programs. Between 1996 and 2000, only 2.6
percent of the offenders under electronic surveillance committed new
felonies, compared with a 6.6 percent rate for the other offenders.

"To make the most efficient use of the state's limited electronic
monitoring resources, this technology should be targeted to those
offenders who are the greatest risk to the public," the OPPAGA report
concluded.