A new report conducted by the Daily Mail researched a California sex offender database where over 7,000 offenders were found to be released within months of being sentenced.
About 55,000 people are registered on the sex offender database that the state of California and the Department of Justice requires. Of that 55,000, 76% committed crimes involving children — with 7,100 of which serving less than a year.
Prosecutors expressed their disdain and concern over the results. Samuel Dordulian, a former prosecutor of sex crimes in the Los Angeles area, cites California Gov. Gavin Newsome’s (D) policies that attempt to limit the number of people in prisons. As a result, the average pedophile served only around 34 months in prison.
According to the United States Sentencing Commission, the average sentence for convicted sexual offenders was 191 months. California’s average sentence for these offenders was 157 months shorter than the national average, despite being the state with the second-highest number of offenders.
Deputy District Attorney Jon Hatami lamented the results as “a disgrace,” and “shameful.” Hatami fears children are endangered with the short sentences and that the state of California “can care less.”
One shocking example is that of Carlos Alexander Nahue, a child sex abuser who was sentenced to two days in jail and five years probation in 2015. According to the Daily Wire, Nahue was also found to live within minutes of a local school and daycare.
As of July 2019, over 41,000 sex offenders had incidents involving children, a figure that is “frightening for society,” Dordulian said. “Statistics show that pedophiles don’t get reformed.”
The inability to be reformed is exacerbated by the incredibly short sentences given out in California. Although these offenders are registered, Dordulian believes they will inevitably strike again.
An online child sex abuse sting operation in September that netted 141 arrests across Southern California shows some hope. However, it is hard to tell if those sentenced will face the same luxury as those found in the Daily Mail study or face harsher sentences.
While minimum sentencing efforts are being made for fentanyl-related charges — another big issue in California — no such efforts seem to be present for child sex offenders.
