Duncan inspires sex-law changes

OLYMPIA – Convicted child rapist Joseph Duncan spends his days in a jail cell now, but his presence will be felt in Olympia in January.

Duncan’s case revolted and angered numerous Washington lawmakers, several of whom plan to push for changes in state law when the legislative session starts Jan. 9.

Duncan, a Washington sex offender, is accused of killing several members of an Idaho family this year, then kidnapping and sexually assaulting the family’s two young children.

“There’s going to be a lot of pressure this session to get something done,” said Rep. Al O’Brien, D-Mountlake Terrace, chairman of the House Criminal Justice and Corrections committee.

Among the proposals being discussed:

“Satellite monitoring – for life – of child sex predators who’ve served their prison time;

“ Tougher sentences for failing to register with police;

“ Renewing a law prohibiting offenders from living near schools and other areas with children.

“The diary on Joe Duncan is what motivates me to keep pushing ahead,” said Rep. Jim Clements, R-Selah, co-chairman of a state task force on sex offender management. And he’s not speaking figuratively. Clements has been reading the voluminous case file on Duncan, whose career as a sex offender began at age 17, when he raped a 14-year-old Tacoma boy at gunpoint.

Last year Clements persuaded his fellow lawmakers to unanimously pass House Bill 1147, which banned the most serious sex offenders from living within an 880-foot radius of a school. The bill was prompted by the arrival in Selah of a Level 3 sex offender, Gary Hill, whose presence drew protests from angry neighbors.

“I was worried that a lot of the local people would want to exercise Rule .308,” said Clements, referring to a rifle caliber.

At hearings this summer, however, even some victims’ advocates questioned whether such no-go zones simply drive sex offenders into rural areas or homelessness.

And some lawmakers point out that Duncan was only released without supervision because his 1980 crime predated current, tougher laws that mandate lifelong supervision.

“The laws are better now,” said Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, although she said further changes might be a good idea.

Here are the major proposals lawmakers are floating. More are likely to emerge next month, when Clements’ task force releases its recommendations.

“ Electronic monitoring for Level 3 sex offenders who victimize children. An electronic anklet or other device linked to Global Positioning System satellites would enable police to monitor an offender’s whereabouts at any time.

“That will be the first thing out of the chute,” O’Brien said.

“I just think of Martha Stewart,” said Clements, referring to the electronic anklet the domestic diva wore for months after her release from prison. “It’s about $19 a month. I think most people would like a test program on some of these folks, especially for transients. A lot of them don’t want to tell you where they’re living, and they lie.”

“ Possible prison time for failure to register with police. The law now requires registration for sex offenders, but ignoring that requirement is only an unranked Class C felony, typically netting little or no time in a local jail.

“It’s a Band-Aid approach to have people think we’re keeping tabs on these folks,” said Jim Reierson, a Spokane lawyer who works in Idaho’s Kootenai County, where failure to register can land a sex offender back in prison for up to five years.

Some lawmakers are balking, O’Brien said, because of the cost. Last year, more than 600 sex offenders in Washington failed to register. And it costs $26,000 a year to incarcerate someone.

“Six hundred times $26,000 and you’re running into some real money,” he said. The state might even need to build a new prison.

Such objections frustrate Reierson.

“What is the value of a child being protected?” he said. “What value do you put on that?”

“ A “Jessica’s Law” type of bill mandating 25 years to life for people who molest children 12 or younger, plus lifelong monitoring and parole.

That’s another good idea, according to Reierson, who said that it’s now possible to get less than seven years’ prison time in Washington for first-degree rape of a child or first-degree child molestation.

“ Requiring out-of-state sex offenders to register here within 24 hours, instead of the current 30 days.

“ Renewing and refining the 880-foot “community protection zone” around schools.

“Those people that reoffend do it in close proximity to where they live,” said Clements. “It’s like the recovering alcoholic – you don’t give them their first job in a bar.”

He and O’Brien both said they understand the argument that the zones could force sex offenders into rural areas with fewer police and treatment options. The key, Clements said, is to keep the zones small.

“We run into a problem if we put a circle around everything,” O’Brien said.

Brown said treatment and monitoring are better long-term answers than trying to establish such zones.

“That’s not going to make sex offenders go away,” she said of the zones. “It kind of looks better than it is in terms of really reducing crime.”

“ Making it easier for sex predators to get the death penalty for abuse and murder of children. Backed by Clements, this would face certain resistance from some lawmakers who oppose the death penalty under any circumstances.

“Idaho has the backbone to do it; I’m not sure Washington does,” O’Brien said. “But there’s only one word the victims and society will say: ‘Cured.’ “