Unforeseen problems arise with sex offender supervision!

TRENTON, N.J. -- Keeping tabs on freed sex offenders under provisions of Megan's Law threatens to stretch thin Parole Board staff assigned to the effort.

The Community Supervision for Life portion of the law also has led to a lawsuit challenging restrictions that prevent offenders from leaving New Jersey if other states refuse to oversee them.

The state has more than 1,530 sex offenders on community supervision, which all paroled sex offenders in New Jersey must serve for at least 15 years. Officials say enrollment is rising by 30 per month, and growth is expected to continue.

Thirty of the state's 316 parole officers are assigned to the supervision program. Thomas James, director of board's parole division, predicted that staffing level will be soon be insufficient.

"I guess no one realized the impact it would have on resources here," James told The Star-Ledger of Newark.

The Parole Board plans to ask lawmakers to create a unit specifically for the supervision program. The size and costs have not yet been determined.

Meanwhile, the parole board and the Community Supervision for Life program have become the focus of a lawsuit filed by the state Public Defender's Office on behalf of a former Englewood mailman imprisoned nearly three years for having sex with a 12-year-old girl in 1997.

Raul Sanchez had applied to the parole board to move to the Bronx, but New York officials refused to accept oversight of him, saying New Jersey's law does not allow violators to be immediately taken into custody as parole violators are.

The law requires those suspected of violating supervision rules to be charged with a fourth-degree offense that's dealt with in the courts.

Brian Neff of the public defender's office questioned how New Jersey officials could force sex offenders to undergo such supervision in the state when they have family and job prospects out of state.

A bill pending in the Legislature would change the parole supervision so that those who violate the rules could be taken into custody and returned to New Jersey. Another pending measure is an interstate agreement state officials hope will specify that community supervision programs are covered.

"Some states feel it's not a parole obligation and they don't have to supervise it," said Joseph Golden, chief of the Parole Board's Office of Out-of-State Services.

Some sex offenders have attempted to withdraw their guilty pleas, claiming the ramifications of community supervision was not made clear to them.

Maria Noto, president of the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey, contends the reach of Megan's Law has exceeded its intent.

"There's an argument to be made that CSL imposes cruel and unusual punishment because a defendant can't leave New Jersey," Noto said.

Maureen Kanka, whose daughter's rape and murder led to Megan's Law, disagrees. Kanka said offenders should remain in New Jersey if another state won't accept them.

Newsday: 9-8-03 The Associated Press