In every game, there are a specific set of rules that control how players conduct themselves within the boundaries of the game world. In real life, there are also a set of rules we call legislation that similarly controls the boundaries of behavior. For decades, In California, the rule of law has ensured that sex offenders are registered as such within the state in order to protect the innocent. However, during the game, it seems that the rules have been changed, and now it is much more lenient—at least seemingly so— for the perpetrators thanks to the signing of the SB 145 bill by Newsom. 

What is Senate Bill 145?

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 145 into law, a bill that would seemingly give perpetrators more rights than victims. For example, previously judges were required to demand a person register as a sex offender if they were convicted of rape of a minor. Now, with the passage of Bill 145, judges are given the option of making a convicted offender register as such if they have been convicted of rape of a minor. This means that instead of making the penalty for this horrid action harsher, the law is giving judges the ability to punish them less severely. 

This Makes No Sense

In a time when sex trafficking is at an all-time high and only increasing, it makes no sense that a piece of legislation would reduce the consequences for offenders when it comes to minors. At Saved In America, we believe that we need harsher laws for the increased, exponential growth in the industry. President Trump understood the dangers that the sex trafficking industry posed and enacted $35 million aimed at fighting the dangers associated with the evil of the sex trade industry. 

What Can be Done?

Now more than ever, organizations like ours have to fight an uphill battle because of people changing the rules mid-game. Now, it’s going to seemingly be harder than before to serve a severe punishment to a sex offender in the state of California. Sense is really lacking when it comes to the "why" behind this bill’s passage. Our organization will keep fighting to find lost children, though, rescuing them from the sex trafficking industry and helping to convict those who victimize them to the fullest extent of the law, however limited that might be at the present. We will never stop our mission until justice is served. #ChildSavedNotSold