New Missouri law toughens penalties for sexual predators

A tough new law aimed at sexual predators who target children will administer severe sentences for "terrible crimes," Gov. Matt Blunt said Tuesday.

During the last stop of a two-day statewide tour touting the new law, Blunt said the measure will be the harshest in the nation. "This bill will protect children at school, at home and on the Internet," he said.

Surrounded by area law enforcement officers, Blunt made his remarks during a news conference on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University. The bill, known as Jessica's Law, will impose life sentences for people raping children under 12 and require lifetime electronic monitoring of their movements after they are released.

The measure is name Jessica's Law after a Florida girl who was murdered by a sex offender who lived in her neighborhood.

Other new rules imposed by the bill include requirements that doctors who deliver babies or perform abortions on girls under 14 to report the pregnancy as evidence of statutory rape and requires registered sex offenders to report their address to law enforcement every six months.

The measure also directs that anyone caught in a police Internet sting face the same penalties as if they were trying to lure a real minor into a sexual liaison.

The Internet has become a favorite tool for predators seeking to have sex with children, said the bill's sponsor, Rep. Scott Lipke, of Jackson. "This is something that is taking over and becoming very prevalent in our society," he said.

Blunt signed the bill despite his distaste for one provision that repeals the state law against homosexual acts between consenting adults. The repeal, which eliminates a misdemeanor sexual misconduct law invalidated by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003, was included to eliminate an obsolete statute, Lipke said.

"You could have a meaningful debate about whether the Supreme Court is right," Blunt said. "We shouldn't litter the statutes."

Pending court case

The repeal removes one argument the state Department of Social Services is using in a pending court case involving a Kansas City lesbian seeking a license as a foster parent. The state has argued that, despite the fact it is unenforceable, the law was a statement of state policy.

The repeal won't deter the state in pursuing a policy "that children benefit from having a mother and a father," Blunt said.

The case is currently before the Missouri Supreme Court.

During his news conference, Blunt praised Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle for helping write a "workable, enforcable bill."

In an interview after Blunt finished his remarks, Swingle said his main contribution was to prevent lawmakers from making no distinction between a sexual predator and a teenager in a consensual sexual relationship with another, younger teen.

"I was horrified at the first draft," Swingle said. "A high school senior having sex with a high school freshman could have received a 20-year sentence."

Such a law, he said, could have resulted in juries that were unwilling to convict and harm the criminal justice system. Prosecutors from around the state cautioned lawmakers "that we don't want to paint with this broad a brush," Swingle said.

Probation changes

In his remarks, Blunt noted that one provision of the measure will bar judges from giving the worst sex offenders probation and saving them from a prison sentence. A Missouri State Highway Patrol review of registered sex offenders found that more than 200 had received a suspended imposition of sentence, Blunt noted.

"These are dangerous people and they may have served very little, if any, time behind bars," Blunt said.

The figure cited by Blunt was generated by a review the sentences imposed on all registered sex offenders, said Capt. Tim McGrail, director of the patrol's criminal records division.

That list covers 27 years, and includes anyone convicted of any crime of a sexual nature since July 1, 1979.

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126