Senate committee passed a version of Jessica's Law Senators get tougher on sex offenders
By ALISON HAWKES
Bucks County Courier Times
HARRISBURG — A Senate committee passed a version of Jessica's Law Tuesday, legislation that's gaining traction in many states to crack down on child sex offenders by lengthening prison sentences and requiring lifetime tracking of their movements.
The law first passed in Florida and was named after Jessica Lunsford, a 9-year-old girl who was snatched from her bedroom last year and killed by a registered sex offender living next door.
The case showed the limitations of requiring sex offenders to list their addresses in public databases under Megan's Law. Pennsylvania and other states are considering ways to toughen penalties for sex offenders who violate reporting requirements and better track those who go against the terms of their probations and paroles.
Pennsylvania Sens. Jane Orie and John Rafferty, prime sponsors of the Senate Bill 944, said they hope the legislation will make Pennsylvania an unfriendly place for sex offenders and sexual predators who might take advantage of states with weaker laws by locating there.
“It's a deterrent to predators. Don't come to Pennsylvania,” said Orie, a Pittsburgh Republican. “They'll look to other states.”
A sexual offender is someone convicted of rape, sexual assault, luring a child into a motor vehicle, incest, child sexual abuse or possessing obscene sexual materials involving a child. A sexually violent predator is someone determined by a court to have a personality disorder that makes him or her likely to again engage in sexually violent offenses.
Among the Senate bill's provisions:
A five-fold increase in the minimum prison sentence for rape or involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child under 13, from five to 25 years. District attorneys have latitude to press the minimum sentencing on a case they believe is likely to get a conviction.
A third-degree felony to individuals who knowingly conceal or harbor an offender or predator who is violating probation or parole and for offenders who evade registration.
Expands Megan's Law registration to include vehicles, trailers, mobile homes and houseboats.
Requires predators to wear a global positioning system (GPS) as an anklet for the rest of their lives as a tracking tool for law enforcement and sets up a public alert system if the predator fails to register.
Creates “child protection zones” by making it a third-degree felony for a registrant to enter within 2,000 feet of a school, playground, park or daycare center.
Predators must verify their residence every month and be rephotographed quarterly; sex offenders must verify residences quarterly.
Expands state's Megan's Law Web site to include street numbers and addresses of sexual offenders and predators, as well as additional information about their crimes. It's also a crime to use that information to commit a criminal offense.
Rafferty said the GPS devices would help the growing number of municipalities that have passed local laws banning sex offenders from certain neighborhoods, particularly near schools and other public places where children might be. Law enforcement would be able to better track the movements of sex predators, he said.
Many towns in Bucks County have passed or are considering such restrictions.
As of December 2004, there were more than 7,100 registered sex offenders in Pennsylvania.
But such restrictions have raised civil liberty concerns and questions about their legality. A Pennsylvania court struck down a previous law that made failure to register under Megan's Law a third-degree felony, saying it was too harsh. The offense is currently a misdemeanor.
Sen. Jane Earll, an Erie County Republican, said she doesn't mean to defend sexual offenders but wonders “what problem are we trying to address here.
“To my knowledge we don't have a problem. The numbers of sex offenders in the system are small and are being dealt with in the system as it exists,” she said.
But Rafferty and Orie said it doesn't need to take a case as high profile as Jessica Lunsford in Pennsylvania for the changes to be needed.
“Even though we don't have a case as high profile, I can guarantee you can go into any district attorney's office across Pennsylvania and they have a story of the same magnitude,” Orie said.
The full Senate plans to take up the bill within the next couple of weeks.
Alison Hawkes can be reached at 717-705-6330 or ahawkes@calkins-media.com.
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/111-03222006-630134.html
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