Bills inspired by 'Jessica's Law' would strengthen penalties
Posted by: "Tjuana Boulanger"
Sun Jan 14, 2007 7:37 pm (PST)
Tougher predator law gets big push
Bills inspired by 'Jessica's Law' would strengthen penalties; critics warn of
backfire
By R.G. RATCLIFFE
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
'JESSICA'S LAW' LEGISLATION
• Supporters say lengthy mandatory prison sentences would deter repeat child sex
offenders. • Opponents say the lengthy sentences would prompt prosecutors to
charge offenders with lesser crimes and would deter families from reporting
child sexual abuse. They also say predators might be more likely to kill their
victims to silence them.

Karl Stolleis: Chronicle


AUSTIN — Brown-haired and brown-eyed Jessica Marie Lunsford, 9, laid out her
clothes for school, put on a pink nightgown and went to bed in her Homosassa,
Fla., mobile home. The next morning she was missing.
After three weeks of searching, police found her body 150 yards from where she
had lived. She had been kidnapped and slain. A registered sex offender who lived
nearby has been charged in her 2005 death.
In the 20 months after Jessica's disappearance, a wave of
get-tough-on-child-molesters laws has swept the nation, spurred on through a
crusade by Fox News talk-show host Bill O'Reilly.
And now that the Texas Legislature has convened, that surge is about to wash
over the Texas Capitol. There were 48,063 sex offenders registered with the
Texas Department of Public Safety as of Dec. 6.
The legislation is not without controversy.
Proponents say they want laws that will protect children from dangerous repeat
predators. Opponents say the laws will deter families from reporting sexual
abuse and cause more predators to kill their victims in an effort to escape
punishment.
Perrys on different sides?Gov. Rick Perry is pushing for the death penalty for
repeat child molesters. His wife, Anita, works as a development director for the
Texas Association Against Sexual Assault, a victims advocacy organization that
has stated opposition to tougher child sex laws in Texas because it fears they
would result in fewer prosecutions.
The push for tougher child-molestation laws began within weeks of Jessica's
death. Florida passed the Jessica Lunsford Act, a mandatory sentencing law that
requires people who molest a child 12 or younger to serve 25 years to life.
There can be lifetime electronic monitoring for people who molest a child older
than 12.
Kansas and California, lobbied by Jessica's father, Mark Lunsford, followed with
their own laws. Oklahoma and South Carolina passed laws allowing for the death
penalty for the rape of a child. O'Reilly routinely displays a map on his show
of the states that are moving in the "right direction."
And the man accused of killing Jessica, John Couey, is set to go to trial in
February. He could face a death sentence under laws that existed prior to
Jessica's death.
After O'Reilly in July 2005 described Texas as weak on child molestation because
there was no mandatory sentencing law, Perry appeared on his show to defend
Texas' laws as some of the toughest in the nation.
"We've been called a lot of things in Texas. Soft on crime is not one of them,"
Perry said, describing how a first offender in Texas can get a life sentence and
a repeat offender faces an automatic life sentence. The offender is not eligible
for parole for 35 years.
O'Reilly shot back, "But this isn't good enough."
"Bill, our average sentence for sexual assault is 25 years," Perry said.
O'Reilly kept urging Perry to toughen the law: "Be the champion."
"When the Legislature comes back in, Bill, we'll be more than happy to look at
toughening those penalties," Perry said.
Fear of more attacksDuring the 2006 campaigns, Perry and the other major
candidates for governor all came out for some version of what is now known as
"Jessica's Law."
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst drew national attention by coming out for the death
penalty for repeat offenders.
Amid that talk, the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault came out against
such tougher penalties.
"Long mandatory minimum sentences can have a number of negative consequences
that serve to decrease rather than increase public safety," the group said in a
public letter.
Anita Perry never took a public position on the issue and declined to comment
for this report.
Bills already are filed at the Texas Legislature to promote versions of
Jessica's Law. Sen. Bob Deuell, R-Greenville, and Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Tomball,
have bills that would make repeat child molestation a capital crime.
Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, has a bill to require tough minimum sentences,
but it does not include the death penalty.
"There is evil in the world. We need to make a loud statement," Riddle said.
"We need to send a message to the child predators across the nation that we may
not be able to change you, but if you molest our children there will be serious
consequences. It would be best if you went somewhere else."
Convictions challengeRiddle said her bill does not change the current
five-to-99-year sentence for a first offender because prosecutors told her a
mandatory minimum sentence would make it more difficult to get convictions.
"Children do not necessarily make the best witnesses. The sentencing phase is
not so much the problem as getting the guilty verdict," Riddle said.
But she said for sexual predators, "this is a lifestyle for them." She said they
may have molested many children before they face a second conviction. That is
why she favors the death penalty.
"By the time a second offense rolls around, it's not just two children," Riddle
said.
Austin defense lawyer Keith Hampton said it is not that easy.
"People are confusing child molestation with child murder," Hampton said.
Hampton said most sexual assaults on a child occur within a family and do not
involve a classic sexual predator. Tougher sentences may lead some families to
forgo reporting child sexual abuse to police, he said.
"Does the child's mother want to subject her brother to the death penalty?"
Hampton said.
Lack of flexibilityHampton said the proposed laws do not have the flexibility to
deal with inappropriate adolescent behavior or with a mentally retarded family
member who "acts out in a sexual way."
Hampton said some true sexual predators of children may decide they are better
off always to kill their victim to dispose of a witness to their crime.
For adults now convicted of sexual assault on children, he said, Texas' laws
already are some of the toughest in the nation.
"We were there with the last hysteria," Hampton said.
The biggest question is whether a death penalty for molesters will withstand
court challenge.
Appeal in capital caseThe U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1977 that execution for
the crime of raping an adult woman is disproportionate "and is therefore
forbidden."
Louisiana passed a law in 1995 making rape of a child younger than 12 a capital
crime.
A resident of the state, Patrick Kennedy, was sentenced to death in 2003 for
raping his 8-year-old stepdaughter. Kenn- edy is appealing his sentence to the
Supreme Court.
Riddle said she thinks such laws will withstand Supreme Court scrutiny.
"I wouldn't have filed it if I didn't think so," Riddle said.
r.g.ratcliffe@...

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Can't change what happened yesterday,
but today is a new day for change........

~"Tjuana"~

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