Lawmakers on Wednesday approved a $250,000 probe into state Department of Mental Health practices that will include dissecting why so few potentially dangerous sexually violent predators up for parole are kept locked away in treatment facilities.
"New laws are good and helpful, but we have to have better enforcement of existing programs. If the programs are not run properly, there's no point," said Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, R-San Diego, who called for the comprehensive review of how the Department of Mental Health screens sex offenders before being released.
Fletcher has been raising questions about how the state handles child sex predators, from prison to parole, in response to the murders of teenagers Chelsea King of Poway and Amber Dubois of Escondido.
Convicted sex offender John Albert Gardner III has pleaded guilty to killing the girls and will be sentenced to two life terms without the possibility of parole on May 14. Gardner had completed his parole from a 2000 molestation case before the murders.
Fletcher's call for an independent examination stems, in part, from a series of stories in The San Diego Union-Tribune revealing that civil commitment of offenders has not increased despite a sharp increase in the number of referrals by the prison system.
Fletcher said it's imperative for the state to know whether screening flaws are letting predators go free. Questions have been raised about whether the state relies too heavily on paper screenings of reports to evaluate an offender's mental health instead of face-to-face reviews and other tools, such as polygraphs.
Stephen Mayberg, director of the Department of Mental Health, told lawmakers that he welcomed the audit but reported that some of the statistics being used to criticize the evaluation program are misleading.
For example, it can take years for a referral to work through the system, starting at the prison level and extending all the way to a court where a judge or jury decides whether the offender is too dangerous to release. As a result, the number of initial referrals has escalated, but final decisions are still pending from earlier cases. More than 300 offenders are at the trial stage, he said.
Also, some lawyers are seeking delays while separate challenges to the civil commitment procedures are pending before the state Supreme Court. Civil commitments are also difficult to secure, he said, because of high standards set by the courts.
"We have to make sure we follow Supreme Court guidelines," Mayberg said. "We cannot ... lock people up forever without providing options" that include opportunities to control and contain their behavior while in the community.
Fletcher said his mission is to reveal possible shortcomings and introduce fixes to protect children from predators.
"The goal is not to cast blame. The goal is not to point fingers," Fletcher said. "There is nothing at all we can do to bring back victims of past crimes. But we have an obligation to do everything possible to ensure we have a system that protects our children."
State Auditor Elaine Howle told the committee reviewing the request that it will take up to seven months to complete the study. She estimated the price at $254,800, plus travel, administrative expenses and any outside consultants, if needed.
