Dugard Case Prompts NV Parole Officers to Check Sex Offenders' Backyards
The Jaycee Lee Dugard kidnapping case has prompted parole officers in Nevada to search the backyards of the sex offenders under their supervision. In addition, they’re also checking satellite images of their residences on Google Earth. In an effort to crack down on sex crimes in Nevada, Governor Jim Gibbons said he wants to make sure "that our officers are checking things they may have bypassed in the past."
According to a legislative audit released last year, the Nevada Division of Parole and Probation (http://dps.nv.gov/npp/index.shtml) isn’t always meeting their standards: Thirty-one percent of the time, parole officers neglected to meet their twice-monthly requirement to visit sex offenders. And nearly fifty percent of the time, parole officers didn’t take the required DNA samples from the sex offenders. Since, then, however, these problems have reportedly been addressed.
There is now one parole officer looking after no more than forty-five sex offenders, and officers work in two-member teams, which is safer for everyone and increases the chances of them spotting deviant behavior. Currently, more than 14,000 sex offenders reside in Nevada, and more than 200 of those are rated “Tier 3,” which have high risks of re-offending. Sex crimes in Nevada can carry very serious penalties, including life-long prison terms.
