BOSTON — The Massachusetts House last night approved tough new penalties for child rapists and predators, but Republicans and some child welfare advocates said the Democratic-backed bill did not go far enough.
The bill, based on Florida's Jessica's Law, passed by the House 142-3, provides a series of mandatory sentences against child rapists, created three new types of crimes child predators can be prosecuted under, and added a host of aggravating factors — such as whether a weapon is used in the crime — to lengthen an assailant's time in prison.
Supporters said the bill protected children while providing more stringent sentences for child sex offenders.
"It's definitely tough enough," said Rep. Michael Costello, D-Newburyport. "Every district attorney supports it and the attorney general helped draft it. Anyone who says it's not tough enough is playing a political game."
Republican Rep. Karyn Polito, who has pushed the Legislature unsuccessfully to pass a version of Jessica's Law for three years, said the House measure did not guarantee a rapist or child predator would serve any time.
"When we say 'rape of a child' in Massachusetts," Polito said on the House floor, "it should mean guaranteed jail time."
The House bill, which must be approved by the Senate, would create three new criminal child rape crimes: aggravated, forcible child rape; aggravated statutory child rape; and aggravated assault and battery on a child.
The bill also increases to 15 years the current 10-year mandatory minimum sentence for raping a child while using a weapon.
It creates a mandatory minimum sentence for child rape, including 20 years for a subsequent offense for rape with force and 15 years for rape of a child with a weapon. It creates new aggravating factors for new crimes, such as forcing drugs or alcohol on the victim.
And it allows prosecutors to charge a subsequent offense for those who have previously been convicted of crimes such as indecent assault and battery on a child or attempted child rape.
Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said by adding different offenses, prosecutors have more ways to put child predators behind bars.
"It gives us more tools to prosecute predators," Blodgett said.
District attorneys also could issue subpoenas to more easily obtain the identities of people using computer accounts to lure children, something Blodgett also supports.
The bill is based on a Florida law named for Jessica Lunsford, a 10-year-old Florida girl abducted, raped and murdered by a repeat sex offender. Since 2005, 42 states have passed identical laws, including mandatory minimum sentences for first-time offenders.
Polito said she wanted to set a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence for first-time child rapists, tougher than in the House bill.
"It (the House bill) still does not guarantee a convicted child rapist will do even one day in jail," Polito said.
Child advocates said a "modified" version of Jessica's Law wasn't good enough.
"This makes things a little better," said Laurie Myers, with the child advocacy group CommunityVoices. "But it's not Jessica's Law."
Rep. Bradford Hill, R-Ipswich, also thought the House bill would have been better with the mandatory sentences.
"It could have been stronger," Hill said.
But Hill said he is a realist and accepts a bill that is strong, though not everything he wanted.
Democrats though said having too many offenses with mandatory minimum sentences strips prosecutors of the leverage they need to secure a plea bargain when a conviction is difficult to come by. Costello, a former prosecutor, said getting a predator to agree to jail time convicted means they'll be punished and, importantly, get placed on the state's sex offender register.
"You get something rather than nothing," Costello said.
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