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On September 24, 2004, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill that would make it easier to find information onlne about most the state's most serious convicted sex offenders. Expected to be implemented early next year, the law will make the location of 55,000 offenders available in a searchable database on the Public Internet. Thos included in the database will include individuals convicted more than once of violent sexual crimes and others convicted once of sexual battery, rape and child molestation. While the official timetable calls for full implementation by July 1, 2005, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer has gone on record as saying that he is working to get the database up by January 1.
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The new database will include:
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name
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known aliases
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a physical description of the offender
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a photograph
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gender
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race
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date of birth
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criminal history
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whether registration is current
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county of residence
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ZIP code of residence
The database will include home addresses for sexually violent predators and offenders convicted of kidnapping, rape, aggravated sexual assault, sodomy, lewd and lascivious conduct and other violent offenses. Addresses will also be included for anyone with more than one registerable sex offense - regardless of what the offenses were. Addresses will not be included for offenders convicted of assault; sexual battery; rape of an unconscious, disabled or intoxicated victim; enticement for prostitution; molestation of a dependent adult by a caretaker and other "lesser" crimes.
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Currently, sex offender information is available onlne to the public only at "Megan's Law public viewing terminals," located in police stations, for additional information. The site also pinpoints those viewing station locations on the map and offers driving directions at the click of one button. (The public viewing terminals also do not provide addresses. However, data available from the public viewing terminals includes: the name, known aliases, gender, race, physical description, photograph, date of birth, and the sex crimes they were convicted of, and the zip code of the offender’s home.)
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Other sex offender-related bills signed by Schwarzenegger would make offenders register all of the addresses they use and and another that would require California residents who must registeras sex offenders in other states also register in California.
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For more information about locating sex offenders:
