Dear Assembly Member:
The purpose of this letter is to request your support for Assembly Bill 702 (AB 702), which would increase public safety and improve the effectiveness of law enforcement by eliminating individuals from the sex offender registry who no longer pose a public risk.  Those individuals include people who had consensual sex while a teenager, sent a “sext message” to a loved one and/or urinated in public.    
The current sex offender registry law in California is outdated and ineffective because it treats all persons convicted of a sexual offenses exactly the same.   In addition, California is 1 of only 4 states in the country which requires lifetime sex offender registration regardless of the nature of the offense or the offender’s risk of re-offending.
The current sex offender registry law is an ineffective method of combating sexual re-offending.  Further, itignores the fact that paroled sex offenders carry 1.9 percent rate of re-offense, according to a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation report issued in October 2012.   A tiered registry, similar to that proposed in AB 702, is recommended by the California Sex Offender Management Board (CASOMB), which is comprised of state experts on this topic.  
California’s current budget challenges demand a fiscally responsible change to our social policy designed to prevent sexual assault. It has simply become illogical, irrational, and cost-prohibitive to expend our limited critical resources by treating all sex offenders the same.
By supporting AB 702, you will increase public safety and improve the effectiveness of law enforcement thereby protecting Californians from repeated sexual assault.  Thank you.