EDITORIAL OFFENDING COMMON SENSE STATE'S SEX-PREDATOR LAWS NEED TOUGHENING.

IT took most of the week and a $10,000 reward offer by Los Angeles County for authorities to track down and arrest ex-convict Marcus Fennell Pierce and put him back behind bars. The question is why was this repeat sex offender ever let out of prison.

According to the Sheriff's Department, on Monday Pierce brutally beat and tried to sexually assault his 12-year-old niece in her Canyon Country home. Although she was able to fight off the attack, she ended up in the hospital with a broken nose and eye socket, as well as other injuries.

Pierce's rap sheet includes other forced sexual assaults on children under the age of 14. He was just released from prison on Feb 2., suggesting that it took less than two weeks for him to re-offend.

Now, it's no secret that sex offenders who prey on children typically attack again. So why are these predators released at all, or at least so quickly? Under the California penal code, a sex crime like the one that landed Pierce in prison carries a measly sentence of three to eight years. That is grossly inadequate.

There are currently various efforts in Sacramento to tighten up the state's unconscionably lax sex-offender laws. Most notably, legislative couple Sen. George and Assemblywoman Sharon Runner, Republicans who represent the Antelope Valley, are pushing to put a ``Jessica's Law'' initiative on the November ballot. The measure would impose sentences of no less than 15 years on those who molest children under the age of 14. It would also subject released offenders to lifelong GPS-monitoring.

Whether through Jessica's Law or legislative reform, the need for stricter sexual-predator laws couldn't be clearer. Let Marcus Fennell Pierce be one more reminder of that - and hopefully the last.