Amann Quoted in L.A. Times on Jessica's Law

Diane Marie Amann, a law professor at UC Davis, provided legal summary in the Los Angeles Times, analyzing the state's attempts to send hundreds of freed sex offenders back to prison for violating Jessica's Law.

Vowing to fight an order from the state's highest court, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and corrections officials began sending hundreds of freed sex offenders back to prison for violating strict residency requirements imposed by voters last year.

The California Supreme Court late Wednesday temporarily blocked the state from arresting four sex offenders who went to court in an effort to avert arrest under what is commonly known as Jessica's Law, which decrees that they must live more than 2,000 feet from schools, parks and other areas where children gather.

The four men contend that the law is unconstitutional, will drive them from their longtime homes, impose an unreasonable condition of parole and levy new punishment for old crimes.

In the article, Amann said the state is within its legal right to enforce the residency law against sex offenders not connected to the case.

But a decision in favor of the four men could invalidate the law completely, she said.

"It would surely provide for more orderly enforcement if the process of arresting people was postponed until it was certain that that was a legal procedure," Amann said.

Los Angeles Times/October 12, 2007