Texas 80th Legislature To Make New Law To Deter Sexual Predators
By Marian Jefferson

The Texas State Legislative body will attempt to address the problem of sexually violent crimes by working to adopt into its penal code new law. “Continuous abuse of a child”, which is abuse of a child in more than one instance over a period of 30 days and Jessica’s Law. The new law will be named for Jessica Lunsford who was abducted from her home in Florida, sexually assaulted and buried alive. It is currently being considered by the Texas State Legislature. If it passes Texas will become one of only a few other states to have adopted similar measures into law.

Jessica’s Law seeks to accomplish the following:

1. Ensure that all child molesters are put into a prison with a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years or 25 years to life and offers the death penalty for

continuous abuse of a child.

2. Eliminate all "good-time" credits for sex offenders ensuring that these sex offenders are required to serve their entire sentence and not be released

early for good behavior.

3. Electronically monitoring of convicted sex offenders for life, if they are ever released from prison, through GPS tracking.

4. Create a 2,000 foot "predator-free" zone around schools and parks to prevent sex offenders from living near where children learn and play.

5. Do away with the statute of limitations for testifying against perpetrators.

Currently, the statute only allows victims 10 years after their 18th birthday to file charges against their molesters and rapists. Because of the elements of fear, guilt and shame associated with their experience, many victims wait until they are in their 40s and 50s to tell and some never tell. According to the Rape And Incest National Network 44% of rape victims are under age 18 and 59% of all rape/sexual assaults go unreported.

Educating the Public

Despite some coverage in the media, there are still a great many people who have never heard of Jessica’s Law or the fact that similar measures are currently being debated in both the House and the Senate. Karen Amacher, Communications Director of the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault stated that the bill initially caused some confusion because legislators did not know how their constituency would want them to vote. This is further borne out in an interview with an area Dallas resident.

“I know about current restrictions on convicted child molesters and rapist where schools and playgrounds are concerned but before today I had never heard of Jessica’s Law”. When asked if she thought the death penalty was too harsh a penalty for violent child sex offenders or if she had any fears of wrongful convictions Ms. Thomas replied, “I am concerned because I think people get caught up sometimes without good representation but I don’t think the death penalty is too harsh", said Frances Thomas of east Dallas. “People don’t care anymore! They think they can get away with anything so they’ll try anything. How else do we keep this from happening?” Ms. Thomas is the mother of an adult survivor of sexual assault and currently assists in advocacy for parolees who have difficulty with re-integration. This writer spoke to many others in the Dallas southwest area with the same or similar response. They had no idea what Jessica’s Law is or Continuous Sexual Abuse of a Child. Furthermore, they report the news as valuable and important enough to have more public discussion about the issue.

Uphill Journey

Attorney General Greg Abbott and Senator Robert Duel, appearing before the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, refused to back down from their support of the death penalty for violent child sex offenders despite growing opposition. Also testifying were victim advocacy groups and prosecutors who said that the attachment of the death penalty would make it even harder to get convictions and force child victims (who most often are victimized by family members and acquaintances) to testify against them with the knowledge that they will be sentencing someone to death, said Kelvin Bass (spokesperson for Senator Royce West). Williamson County District Attorney stated he believed the death penalty attachment would even encourage sex offenders to kill their victims (The Statesman).

When asked about the possibility of disportionality with respect to minority sentencing Mr. Bass replied, “Senators Ellis and Hinijosa raised this very question with regard to application”. It is their contention that minorities will be more adversely affected because of ineffective representation and other factors which traditionally plague lower socio-economic status individuals who find themselves in defense of such charges. If the bill passes, it may immediately face a flurry of constitutional challenges. The United States Supreme Court In Coker vs. Georgia (1977), in a vote of 7-2 found the death penalty excessive and unconstitutional, citing racial discrimination and disportionality for the crime of raping a 16 year old. The court ruled that only those convicted of murder can be put to death.

In an interview with Don Forest, Communications Director for Senator Robert Duel and Legislative Aid responsible for Jessica’s Law, he admitted that there were problems with support for the bill as it is reads currently stating, “Senator Duel is working on tweaking the language of the bill to totally eliminate the statute of limitations on reporting and where getting the twenty-five year sentence minimum will not be a problem…deterrent is the most important component of the bill. The Senator wants those who would commit these kinds of crimes to know what the punishment will be…”

In Summary

This bill and its substitute were voted successfully out of the Criminal Justice Committee and the bills are anticipated to go to the floor in a couple of weeks. “We are confident that by the end of the session that we will get something out that everyone can come on board with.” He stated further that Senator Duel was listening closely to opponents such as the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault who say this bill is a bad idea and who are supporting Senate bill 97 and House bill 204 as substitutes for the current bill according to Karen Amacher, Communications Director for TAASA. Senator Robert Deull, a medical doctor, was tapped by Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst to lead the charge for sponsorship of this bill. It will be offered as a part of Dewhurst’s “Texas Children’s First” program.

In Texas, 1.9 million adult Texans (1,479,912 female and 372,394 male) or 13% of adult Texans have been sexually assaulted at some point in their lifetime (Institute on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault at The University of Texas at Austin, 2003). This translates to roughly one rape every 1 hour and 1 minute (Texas Crime Clock; Crime in Texas 2005).

Marian Hubbard Jefferson is the Chair of Lift Every Voice Family and Community Development Project, a nonprofit charity formed to empower, equip and encourage adult survivors of child sexual assault. Marian holds a Masters Degree in Counseling from Prairie View A&M University in Texas. To learn more about Lift, its passion, mission and purpose; please log onto http://www.marianjefferson.org

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