New Legislation

Normally I'm all for gridlock, but there are exceptions:

WASHINGTON -- Convicted child molesters would face the death penalty for killing their victims and a felony charge for failing to update their whereabouts with authorities under a bill the Senate approved Thursday.

Child advocates have called the bill the most sweeping sex offender legislation to target pedophiles in years. It would:

Establish a comprehensive federal DNA database of material collected from convicted molesters, and procedures for the routine DNA collection and comparison to the database when someone has been convicted of such an offense.
Provide federal funding for states to track pedophiles using global positioning devices.
Allow victims of child abuse to sue their molesters.
Impose a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years for raping a child.
Impose a mandatory 10-year penalty for sex trafficking offenses involving children and for coercing child prostitution.
Increase minimum sentences for molesters who travel between states.

UPDATE: There seems to be a consensus forming that the law is unconstitutional (usurps State power) and should be struck. Totally blew it, in my relief that something was being done to constrain lenient judges.
No such luck.
Back to the drawing board.

posted by LauraW. at 09:33 AM

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