Lungren Urges Molester Data in Libraries : Crime: Bill would make names and descriptions of offenders available. Attorney general’s overall crime report shows major offenses down 3.8% in 1993.

Atty. Gen. Daniel Lungren, California’s top law enforcement official, on Tuesday called for legislation to make the names, pictures and descriptions of convicted child molesters available at county libraries.

With crime dominating the 1994 legislative session, Lungren also released a report showing that major crime dropped by 3.8% across California in the first nine months of 1993, but that homicide increased by 2.6%, based on preliminary reports by 49 police agencies in the state.

Lungren’s crime report showed that violent crime in California dropped 4.1% from 1992 to 1993. Rape declined the most, falling 7.5%. It was the fifth year in a row that rape decreased.

Property crime, including burglary and auto theft, dropped by 3.7%. At the same time, Lungren reported an 18.9% increase in the legal sale of guns, with 665,229 firearms sold in 1993.

In his State of the Public Safety speech, Lungren announced his support for a bill making the names, criminal histories, physical descriptions and photos of all felony child molesters available at county libraries, with updates twice a year.

“In a dangerous and uncertain world, parents should be empowered with the information they need to protect their children,” Lungren told the Comstock Club, an organization of business people.

Lungren said he believes parents would use the information to notify police whenever they see people matching the descriptions of molesters at parks or near schools.

“I’m not afraid of empowering people,” Lungren said.

In Washington state, which has a similar law, people in Lynnwood, north of Seattle, torched the home of a convicted molester in July. The Washington law gives law enforcement authorities the right to release addresses of sex offenders, but does not require them to do so.

To protect against vigilantism, Lungren said, his proposal would not allow for molesters’ addresses to be publicly released. But the communities and ZIP codes in which they live would become available.

Lungren’s proposal will be in a bill being pushed by Assemblywoman Barbara Alby (R-Fair Oaks). The measure seeks to deter people from attacking molesters by adding five years to the prison terms of anyone convicted of using the information about molesters to commit a felony.

California has 64,614 registered sex offenders, 20,236 of whom live in Los Angeles County. Lungren’s aides did not know how many registered sex offenders are convicted child molesters.

On the other crime statistics, Lungren blamed the rise in homicide on juveniles, who he said are becoming increasingly violent. He called for legislation requiring juveniles age 16 or 17 who use firearms in a crime to be charged as adults.

He said legislation should be passed allowing prosecutors to charge those who illegally give a firearm to a minor with a felony, and said minors who use guns illegally should lose their driver’s licenses and cars.

Lungren attributed the drop in crime to increased incarceration, pointing out that 120,000 people are in state prisons today, compared to 24,500 in 1980. He noted that the Department of Corrections budget is $2.7 billion, or $85 for every Californian.