Posted on Fri, Jul. 07, 2006

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S.C. begins program to track sex offenders

But equipment to monitor domestic abusers will be used

By JIM DAVENPORT

The Associated Press

South Carolina unveiled a new program Thursday to track sex offenders, but the monitoring relies on equipment once used in a program to keep people convicted of criminal domestic violence away from women they were accused of beating.

The state budget that took effect earlier this month includes $2.7 million to implement a tougher sex-offender law, including lifetime tracking and monitoring of those convicted of sexual conduct or lewd acts with children. But the budget didn’t provide money to continue monitoring criminal domestic violence offenders.

Sex crimes committed against children “have a drastic impact far beyond most crimes that we deal with,” said Sam Glover, director of the state Probation, Parole and Pardon Department. The public “is demanding there be some changes in this arena.”

The sex-offender monitoring is part of a bill that makes rapists eligible for the death penalty when their victims are younger than 11.

Scott Norton, the agency’s field program director, said about 400 of the 8,500 people on the state’s sex-offender registry could be ordered immediately to wear equipment that monitors their location with gear linked to satellite and cell phone networks.

There are about 300 new cases each year that will require monitoring under the new law, Norton said.

Randy Raybon, a probation and parole agent with the Lexington County office, demonstrated Thursday how the equipment can provide detailed tracking information, transmitting data every 10 seconds.

The gear can sound warnings when offenders enter areas they’re supposed to stay out of, including victims’ homes or schools.

Glover said his agency’s two years of experience in handling the equipment came through a grant that was used for tracking criminal domestic violence offenders.

It was an effective program, Glover said. “Once we clamped that GPS on them, they settled down, and we didn’t have any violations at all,” he said.

The agency wanted $3.7 million to track both groups, but Glover said the Legislature provided only enough money for the sex-offender program.

“That didn’t pass the muster in the General Assembly because their concern was sex offenders,” Glover said. “And we certainly couldn’t continue it out of our budget.”

Since the program quietly ended earlier this year, Glover said there’s been no backlash.

Veronica Swain, chief executive of the S.C. Victims Assistance Network, said several counties continue to use Global Positioning System satellite gear to monitor criminal domestic violence offenders.

And “there are judges across the state that will order that” monitoring, she said.