Punishment, Not Handouts for Criminals

By Tom Harman

Unfortunately, not all lawmakers agree. Here's one of the ideas dreamed up by a soft-on-crime legislator: Let's give convicted drug felons cash welfare benefits with virtually no strings attached.

Last year, AB 855, which was passed by the Assembly, would have done just that. Under this measure, criminals convicted of serious drug felonies would be eligible for the same welfare benefits that honest, hard-working Californians are rightly entitled to. Fortunately, AB 855 was vetoed by the governor.

Dangerous drug felons should not be rewarded with welfare benefits for completing their prison sentences. Elected officials have a duty to their law-abiding constituents, and I am pleased to have opposed this and other soft-on-crime measures, including:

• AB 821, which requires county election workers to make a special effort to locate convicts and provide them with taxpayer-funded information encouraging them to vote. This bill is still in committee.
• AB 862, which would have used your tax money to publish and distribute pamphlets to prison inmates to help them find ways to reduce child-support payments. AB 862 was also vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger.
• AB 1677, which would have given condoms to prison inmates, even though sex in prison is a felony. Fortunately, this bill did not make it to the Governor's desk.

Contained in AB 231 and SB 588, the Jessica's Law legislation would:

• Require that sex offenders wear GPS monitoring devices for life.
• Increase penalties across the board for sex offenses, and expand the ability of prosecutors to apply "one strike" offenses to the most dangerous sex offenders.
• Increase penalties for using the Internet to lure a minor into a lewd act ­ an increasingly common tactic for sexual predators who hunt online for young victims.
• Provide life imprisonment for any person who commits a first-degree burglary with intent to sexually assault a child.

Republicans abstained from voting for the watered-down bill, and reiterated their support for Jessica's Law. Democrats refused to support these common-sense provisions, and instead sent the much weaker AB 50 to the Senate.

I stand firm in support of Jessica's Law, the toughest anti-predator proposal on the table, and I won't let weaker substitutes sidetrack the push for stronger penalties for these sickening crimes.

Your state representatives should be passing laws that protect hard-working taxpayers, not criminals. Please contact your other elected officials and let them know that you oppose giving criminals special treatment and that you disagree with anything that would compromise the safety of California's children.

Signed,

TOM HARMAN Assemblyman, 67th District