California releases thousands of pedophiles less than year after their convictions, data shows
Published November 29, 2022 2:17PM FOX News
Thousands of convicted pedophiles in California have been released from prison after only spending less than a year in prison, a recent analysis found.
"Statistics clearly show that pedophiles don't get reformed. They're going to come out and they're going to commit again," former Los Angeles sex crimes prosecutor Samuel Dordulian told the Daily Mail.
Using California's Megan's Law website, the Daily Mail found that there were more than 7,000 sex offenders convicted of "lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 years of age," but released from prison in under a year of being convicted.
"Letting these people out early, we're allowing for a lot more victimization. And that's terrifying," Dordulian added.
Additionally, the report found that predators convicted of continuous sexual abuse of a child spent less than a year in prison, as well as three cases of convicts who kidnapped kids under 14 "with intent to commit lewd or lascivious acts," and nearly 40 cases of sodomy with a child under 16.
The report is based on data prior to 2019 due to "digital blocks" that were added to the Megan’s Law website that prevents more recent analysis, according to the outlet. The site does show that there are currently 61,770 sex offenders in California, though it’s unclear how many are pedophiles.
The investigation examined 54,986 sex offenders listed on the Megan’s Law website as of July 2019 and found 76% of the offenders committed crimes involving kids. The data was determined by comparing the published dates of a pedophile’s conviction versus their release date.
Convicted pedophiles spend an average of two years and 10 months in prison, according to the report.
Megan’s Law is a federal law that requires law enforcement to make information on sex offenders available to the public. It was passed under the Clinton administration after the murder of New Jersey 7-year-old Megan Kanka in 1994.
Republican California Rep. Darrell Issa slammed the findings of the report in comment Fox News Digital, arguing the state must either prove the data isn't true or immediately fix policies that allow for the early releases.
"This disturbing report represents a critical challenge to California: Prove it isn’t true or take immediate action to reverse policies that contradict any sense of justice. The spirit that made Megan’s Law a reality is as important to public safety as ever, and there must be a clear and consistent standard for truth in sentencing of the most violent and dangerous criminals."
Chairwoman of the California GOP, Jessica Millan Patterson, added in comment to Fox News Digital that "nothing should be more important than the safety and well-being of our children."
"Yet soft-on-crime policies championed by radical Governor Gavin Newsom, woke DA George Gascón and California Democrats have put our state’s youngest and most vulnerable in harm’s way. Allowing for a speedy prison release for thousands of California’s most egregious convicted criminals is utterly reprehensible," she continued.
Dordulian said that some policies endorsed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has allowed for shortened sentences of convicts.
"With Newsom, they've passed a lot of legislation where they are allowing for resentencing, they're allowing for people to come back and there's a push to have less time spent in prison," Dordulian said.
"That has been the push for the last at least five years: letting people out of prison much earlier than what their sentences were for."
Neither Gov. Newsom’s office nor the California attorney general’s office immediately responded to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.
