August 8, 2011

Never Again: Learning from Jaycee Dugard


by Rebecca Burgoyne, 

CFC Research Analyst


Jaycee Lee Dugard was 11 years old when she was kidnapped – by a convicted and paroled sex offender – from a school bus stop in sight of her South Lake Tahoe home. Despite numerous parole visits over 18 years, Phillip and Nancy Garrido were able to hide Jaycee in an Antioch backyard until she – and her daughters by Garrido – were discovered in August 2009. 


How did it happen? Various missteps by law enforcement and parole agents contributed to lapses in the system – many of them due to the misclassification of Garrido as needing only low-level supervision. Garrido proved he was able to manipulate the system. “Prognosis is good” was written time and time again in parole and medical files. Yet, “Law enforcement failed to see Phillip Garrido for what and who he truly is – evil," according to a 162-page report released by El Dorado County prosecutors earlier this month.  Up until his arrest, Garrido was considered a model parolee. Garrido and his wife Nancy pled guilty in April and face a lifetime in prison. 

The failures of the system were highlighted in a Capitol hearing last week. Hosted by Sen. Ted Gaines (R-Roseville) and El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson, the meeting discussed failures in the Dugard case and offered ideas on how to improve the supervision of sex offenders. Gaines and Pierson
plan to assess the ideas and recommendations from the meeting and craft bipartisan legislative solutions to increase the rules of evaluation for potential parole of serious offenders.

Legislators return to the Capitol next Monday to finish up the work of the 2011 legislative session. With only three weeks remaining in the session, they have their work cut out for them with fiscal committees and floor votes. When they adjourn on September 9, Gov. Jerry Brown will have one month to act on any bills legislators forward to his desk. Bills monitored by CFC can be found on our
online legislative action center.