Thousands of child molesters in California being released after only a few months in prison, and pedophiles who raped children under the age of 14 are receiving less than a year in jail, a DailyMail.com investigation revealed.
Current and former sex crime prosecutors decried the figures as "terrifying" and "shameful."
More than 7,000 sex offenders were convicted of "lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 years of age" but were released from prison the same year they were incarcerated, according to the California Megan's Law database examined by DailyMail.com.
California was the only state that DailyMail.com was only able to obtain detailed sex offender data for its probe.
DailyMail.com compiled the data of the 54,986 sex offenders who were listed on the website in July 2019 and analyzed the results, revealing that 41,794 (76%) committed offenses involving children.
The investigation showed that the average pedophile served only two years and 10 months in prison.
Former Los Angeles sex crimes prosecutor Samuel Dordulian told DailyMail.com he was "shocked" by the statistics and described them as "frightening for society," adding that "statistics clearly show that pedophiles don't get reformed. They're going to come out and they're going to commit again."
Dordulian stressed that "in my days [in the Los Angeles DA's office], we made every effort to get as long of a prison sentence as we could, because we knew that the minute they're going to come out, they're more likely to reoffend and another child's going to get harmed."
Dordulian, who now represents victims of sexual abuse, blamed policies backed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom that permit the shortening of sentences to reduce the prison population, emphasizing that there has been a push "for the last at least five years: letting people out of prison much earlier than what their sentences were for."
This policy was adapted despite the U.S. Justice Department stating that sex offenders are at least four times more likely than other criminals to be rearrested for a sex crime.
Deputy Los Angeles District Attorney Jon Hatami told DailyMail.com that he blamed the problem on Proposition 57, a 2016 bill permitting early parole for nonviolent felons that was backed by his boss, District Attorney George Gascón.
The spokesperson wrote in a statement: "Public safety is a top priority for the California Department of Justice. It's generally up to courts — in conjunction with locally elected DAs — to ensure the applicable statutes and sentencing guidelines are applied to cases based on the specific facts and circumstances. It's largely up to legislators to enact those statutes."
The statement emphasized: "Our office actively works with law enforcement across the state to protect our state's children and families ... [with ] our state's 58 district attorneys on the front lines of enforcing criminal statutes to protect public safety on behalf of California's nearly 40 million residents."
© 2023 Newsmax. All rights reserved.