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May 03, 2005
Sex offenders: Florida vs. Alabama
Local and state laws pertaining to child sexual offenders pale in comparison to Florida's newly passed Jessica Lunsford Act, a piece of legislation signed Monday by Florida Governor Jeb Bush making the already-stiff Sunshine State penalties even harsher.
The new law is named for a young child who was recently abducted and killed by a sexual offender who had been released from prison. Jessica and another little girl from Florida both suffered the same fate at the hands of two separate offenders in just weeks past.
According to Covington County District Attorney Greg Gambril, penalties for sexually abusing children vary in Alabama. "With the sex offense of a child, it depends upon the actual offense," Gambril said. "If the child is raped or sodomized and is under the age of 12, the minimum sentence is 10 years and the maximum sentence is life.
"Any time they're (sex offenders) convicted, the judge holds a sentence hearing and would take many things into consideration, including the impact on the victim, the number of times it happened and prior criminal history."
The charge of Sexual Abuse in this state is considered a Class C felony and is punishable by between one year and one day to 10 years in prison if the person is a first time offender. Gambril explained that this charge relates to an adult convicted of "touching" a child in a sexually inappropriate manner.
Early May 2, Gov. Bush signed the new law which will place a mandatory 25-year minimum sentence on anyone convicted of a sexual offense against a child.
In addition, many sexual offenders and predators who are released from prison on parole conditions in the future will be required not only to register, but also to wear a global positioning satellite device for the remainder of their lives so law enforcement officials can track their movements.
Gary Hutcheson, a criminal investigator with the DA's office, is all for a harsher punishment for those who abuse children. "Most definitely," the investigator remarked.
"I couldn't count the number," Hutcheson said of the cases he's investigated in the past involving sex crimes against children. He's dealt with criminal cases where atrocities have been committed against children eight years of age and possibly younger.
"Most (offenders) have pled guilty," Hutcheson said. Those who plea often get a sentence of around six months or so in jail. Hutcheson said that, for cases that do proceed to a jury trial, the process from the investigation phase to the court date can often take between a year and a year and a half.
The District Attorney said he would certainly like to see sexual offenders punished, and wants to assure that the punishment fits the crime for each individual case.
"One goal of any criminal statute is to hopefully deter somebody from committing the same offense," Gambril said.
"A child sex offender is a different breed of criminal in that their tastes are deviant and unnatural so deterrence doesn't really apply," he added. "I am all for the strictest punishment possible for any child sex offender, but it's got to be more than just a heavy sentence. There have to be some provisions for what happens when they get out."
As for going with a GPS tracking system for sexual offenders as Florida plans to do, Gambril said it will probably take more than that to prevent repeat offenses.
"I think it's a good idea, but I also think that you have to increase personal supervision (after an offender is released from jail or prison). I think the only effective supervision is where the parole officer goes to them whenever they want to, without notice, because until someone goes in to their houses or sees the neighborhood they live in or is monitoring their environment, chances are they could easily re-offend."
According to Gambril, Covington County does have a high rate of sexual offense and abuse cases against children.
"We do have a lot of them because this is a rural community and crimes such as child sexual abuse tend to be higher, especially when there is a high unemployment rate and higher instances of alcohol abuse and drug abuse." Most cases of sexual abuse against children in this area involve cases where the child is well known by the offender or even living in the same household.
Gambril said this county "has a low rate of random acts" of sexual abuse or assault against children, wherein a stranger is the offender -- unlike the recent assaults and deaths of the two Florida girls which sparked the Jessica Lunsford Act.
Posted by Nealus at May 3, 2005 01:44 PM
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