Posted on 02/24/2007 10:46:46 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
The national media won't tell you, but in Miami right now, a man named John Couey is on trial for brutally killing a 9-year-old girl named Jessica Lunsford. Couey, a convicted sex offender, kidnapped Jessica out of her modest Florida home, brought her to a trailer, sexually abused her, and then buried her alive. When authorities found her body, she was clutching a stuffed dolphin.
Because of that heinous act, the state of Florida passed "Jessica's Law," which mandates that a first-time conviction for felony sexual battery on a child will result in a 25-years-to-life prison sentence. No plea bargain, no parole, no nutty judge dispensing light punishment. You do it once -- you're gone.
In the past three years, 41 out of 50 states have passed a version of Jessica's Law, but there is still powerful opposition to it. Many trial lawyers object because they want the ability to plea bargain. Some judges dissent because their egos are bruised. They are taken out of the equation after a child predator is convicted. And many in the left-wing media object to Jessica's Law on the grounds that it is cruel and unusual punishment; these people want rehabilitation for violent sexual offenders who brutalize children.
Let's deal with the rehab situation first. In our system of justice, the punishment must fit the crime. If you rape or sexually brutalize a child, that child will never fully recover. For the rest of that person's life, the crime will be played out in a variety of ways. Thus, the punishment must be the forfeiture of freedom for much of the abuser's life. That's punishment fitting the crime.
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
I am pretty sure that the word "child" as used in Jessica's Law means a person under the age of 12.
I am not sure about that. I do know that sex is happening in some form or another as young as the middle schools. I by no means agree with it either. I am just worried about the situations I posted. I don't want to see a life ruined due to one dumb mistake. I wish more parents knew what their children were doing. In the middle school in the town where I live we had a girl caught under the table giving her boyfriend oral sex. Both were in the 7th grade! Why they would do that there or be doing it at all is beyond my scope of thinking. We have a serious problem with judges who are letting repeat offenders out and it drives me crazy. I support Jessica's Law. I just worry that some will be jailed for stupid mistakes. We don't need to do that in the quest to get sex offenders. ~P~
I take it you are a lawyer or a judge. Sticking up for pond scum is not cool.
Yup, I googled it. The original Jessica's Law is specific to those who molest a child under the age of 12. When I have heard O'Reilly talk about it, he has said the same thing.
I know what you mean about teenagers. The idea that a 17 year old who engaged in consensual sexual actvity with a 15 year old needs to be treated like a criminal trivializes real child molestation. (I imagine some number of FReepers would be on sex offender registries under this definition.)
http://jessicas-law.blogspot.com/
Thanks for clearing that up for me. Sometimes good laws tend to have some parts which are unclear. And thats when the problems begin. I don't understand the judges who let repeat offenders out or who give light sentences out to guys who rape little children. That makes my blood boil. ~P~
Actually I'm a mid-level hospital administrator. I do, however, believe that all men are innocent until proven guilty, and that judges are in the best position to decide punishment.
13 year old woman?
One for two isn't bad.
The defense lawyers need to do whatever they can to be effective advocates for their clients, no matter how repugnant those clients are, and no matter how heinous their crimes.
On the other hand, there absolutely MUST be a firewall for society at large against criminal-coddling, corrupt, scumbag liberal Democrat judges. Mandatory sentencing laws provide the rest of us with that firewall.
Sorry... I should have addressed that to all. It was made as a general statement, and not pointedly to you.
Let me also add...
The difference between a Girl and Woman is Physical Appearance. If she Looks like a woman - breasts, hips, you get the idea. And in the case I cited, it came out this 13 year old woman was quite sexually experienced - no word on whether proscuters would be going after the other males she's had sex with.
News isn't about informing us about soemthing. It's about telling us the thing They think will generate the most outrage and opinion.
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