Fairness for Prisoners' Families
Sex crime bill may snare teens A broad new law to toughen sentences for sex offenders who assault children is one of the main goals of Georgia's Republican leaders. But critics say some children themselves might be caught in the proposed law's net — for at least 25 years. The House bill also might send some teens who engage in consensual sex to prison, critics say. Teenagers 13 through 16 who are prosecuted in adult court for rape or aggravated crimes of sodomy, child molestation and sexual battery would face a mandatory sentence of at least 25 years under House Bill 1059, according to an analysis by the Barton Child Law & Policy Clinic at Emory's School of Law. The current penalty under Georgia law is at least 10 years. "I'm very scared for kids with this legislation," said Beth Reimels, the clinic's managing attorney. The bill also might punish some teens who engage in sexual activity with each other, critics say. They hasten to say they don't condone teen sex but know it happens. If the bill passes, a youth of 13, 14, 15 or 16 who engages in mutual sexual activity with a child under 14 could be prosecuted for aggravated sexual crimes, tried as an adult and face a minimum 25-year sentence. The age of the younger child makes the crime an "aggravated" one. House Majority Leader Jerry Keen (R-St. Simons Island) proposed the sex offender legislation, which the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee is expected to consider this afternoon. More than 70 other lawmakers have signed on to the bill. Keen declined to comment for this article because lawmakers are working on new draft of the bill to present to the committee today, a spokeswoman for House Republicans said Tuesday afternoon. "They are still working on the changes," Michelle Hitt said. She said she did not know the specific changes or how they might affect juveniles. "Our top priority is to protect our children from dangerous sexual predators," Hitt said. "As we've gone through this process, we've made a lot of changes to the bill. More changes are coming." Franklin E. Zimring, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of "An American Travesty: Legal Responses to Adolescent Sexual Offending," called Keen's bill as it could affect teens "a penal policy nervous breakdown." "It takes my breath away," he said. Teens "do some very stupid things sexually that do not predict any patterns of adult sexual danger," he said. The bill perpetuates the idea that teen sex offenders "are just junior editions of adult offenders, and that is just demonstrably not true," Zimring said. Other critics say the bill would take away discretion from judges and not address treatment and rehabilitation for offenders, not even for young ones. Yet "researchers say children can respond to treatment and be rehabilitated and never re-offend," the Barton Clinic's Reimels said.
Sara Totonchi, public policy director
for the Southern Center for Human Rights, said she hoped lawmakers
would change how the bill could affect teens. "Because the language
is overly broad, it's going to trap children who are not sex
offenders ... who could really benefit from treatment," she said. |
