Jaycee Dugard approved for $20 Million Dollar Settlement from State of California

Today the California State Assembly approved a $20 million settlement for kidnap victim Jaycee Dugard, who was snatched off the street near her South Lake Tahoe home in 1991. The settlement would compensate Dugard and her two daughters for a lack of counseling and education while they were held captive behind Phillip Garrido's Antioch home for two decades. Although it still has to go through the Senate, the Sacramento Bee reported that the payment is intended to head off a potentially larger judgment that could easily be handed down, given the circumstances of the 20-year kidnapping. Authorities repeatedly failed to supervise Garrido, a registered sex offender who was on parole for a 1977 rape and kidnapping charge when he abducted Jaycee. Garrido's wife Nancy was also part of the kidnapping and faces similar charges.

Public outrage ensued when it became known that authorities did make numerous trips out to Garrido's home during the time that Jaycee and her daughters lived there. The state accepted responsibility for dropping the ball on several occasions, since none of the individuals sent out to the residence took the opportunity to investigate suspicious circumstances.

If you've seen the E! Investigates special on the Jaycee Dugard kidnapping, you'd know just how many times the state went out to Phillip Garrido's home between 1991 and 2009. You'd also know that each time they went out, they didn't do anything except talk to him. Even when a neighbor complained that an electrical cord was running through the backyard into the tents, nobody looked for them!!!!! And it was either the Department of Corrections or the Dept. of Public Health that went out to investigate.

TRULY frustrating. In our opinion the settlement should be larger than $20 million, for punitive reasons!

Sources:
People.com. Jaycee Dugard Approved for $20 Million Settlement from California. July 1, 2010.
The Sacramento Bee. Legislature OKs $20 million for kidnap victim Dugard. July 1, 2010.