Nine-year-old Jessica Lunsford was kidnapped, raped, and buried alive by a repeat child molester. She later died.
The Tim Gill-sponsored Democratic legislature today sent a clear message when they voted down mandatory minimum sentencing for child rapists, otherwise known as “Jessica’s Law”. The party line vote showed that Democrats cared more about playing politics than they did about protecting innocent children from child rapists.
Colorado is one of just six states that has not yet enacted Jessica’s Law, which would classify child molestation on a person under the age of 12 as a life felony with a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years in prison. The law is named after Jessica Lunsford, a nine-year-old girl from Florida, who was kidnapped, brutally raped, and murdered (she was buried alive) in 2005 by repeat child molester John Couey.
The House Democrats in the House State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee killed the bill despite hearing from Lunsford’s father, Mark Lunsford, today. During his testimony, Lunsford told the committee, “I don’t understand how many names you have to hear and how many children have to die before it really sinks in.”
Republican Representative Libby Szabo also highlighted the sobering statistics around this heartbreaking issue:
“Mandatory sentencing to protect children from pedophiles should be a ‘no brainer.’ Forty percent of released sexual offenders perpetrate a new crime within a year of being released, and the majority of the children they molest are kids under 13.”
Tim Gill’s hand-picked legislature voted no. His family must be so proud that his legislature killed a bill to protect innocent children throughout our state. Finally, the “no” vote also sends a message to child predators – Colorado welcomes you.
Someone please explain the Liberals' rationale for protecting child molesters.
This really saddens me my home state is becoming so liberal minded and retarded. Casteration should be the punishment for child rapists but Jessica's Law is a decent compromise.
Yet they claim they are enacting gun control laws to save children. Are these people on drugs?
If I lived in Colorado, I would find out the Home and Office numbers of the people who are opposing this. I would personally call them everyday and let them know, as a concerned citizen, that I didn't agree with their lack of care and concern. WAKE UP PEOPLE! You have a right and a duty to tell the people who are elected officials, how you feel about the job that they are doing. Quit burying your heads in the sand and let your voice be heard. Put some pressure on these officials! If they still don't do what's right, elect some better officials!
So Colorado wants to take guns away and protect child rapists. The dream of living in the beautiful Mountainous Colorado just died.
Daniel, that's smoke & mirrors & pathetic excuse-making. The Romeo & Juliet excuse has no validity whatever — you are just echoing talking points from liberals who don't believe in punishing criminals. As a native Coloradoan, I am ashamed of these legislators, and they should be ashamed of themselves.
these scumbags are all over restricting our gun rights, but won't enact tougher laws on child rape? didn't they profess that tougher gun laws are for the protection of the children?
Why punish criminals when you can punish lawful (gun owning) citizens?
Daniel: where did you get this idea that Republicans want to fill prisons? That's a huge stretch and an over generalization.
What I would like to know is does the language of the bill deal with the exact charge of child rape (vaginal or anal penetration) or every other sex offense under the sun? And I don't favor harsh sentences of juvenile sex offenders. The Juvenile Sex Offender Board: JSOB believes that if a kid who has molested is caught early that they can be rehabilitated. And there is a huge difference between rape and inappropriate touching. And I agree with you Daniel that many kids lie for any number of reasons and can exaggerate their testimony. The McMartin child abuse case was just one example. And thus many men, in particular, have had their lives ruined just because everyone wants to believe the child over the adult.
So you believe that because our current justice system is not perfect we should allow criminals to keep committing crimes? Or is it only this class of crimes that you think is abused by the system?
Are you also against firearms being confiscated from those accused of domestic violence ore who have restraining orders against them? Those are two examples of easy abuse in the legal system. The truth is that nothing is perfect, but there are real predators out there and to not protect our children from the people who would harm would be a true crime.
Maybe a law like this would be a good thing in a sane, just and rational society, but in the current context of modern America, it will destroy countless innocent lives and the guilty will go unpunished because that's how the current legal system is designed to operate. Republicans favor filling prisons however they can, it has nothing to do with protecting children. Keep in mind that this law won't apply to wealthy businessmen attended regular 'business meetings' in Thailand and India. Interesting to use an example of a murder to promote a penalty for rape, but also the language of the act means that these sentences might apply to 12 and 13 year olds having consensual sex with kids the same age, since many laws directed at 'child molesters' have resulted in kids going to jail for that. Plus, there have been many many cases of orchestrated false accusations where kids are intimidated or encouraged by adults to lie for a variety of vindictive reasons, and often the kids come out and admit they're lying but the accused stays in jail because they've 'exausted all appeals' or some judge thinks it's funny to throw out a valid appeal because he doesn't like the lawyer representing him. Essentially, our legal system is too utterly corrupt from the lowest cop to the president and every single lawyer, cop and judge in between, and it is controlled by people with severe mental health problems caused by excess wealth and power, who are entirely above the law and who see large prison populations as a good thing because it brings down labor costs.
Gun control laws don't protect anyone except criminals.
Wonderful false dichotomy you have there. If a Democrat proposed a bill for stiffer sentencing for someone who used a gun in a crime, I doubt you would find any Republicans opposing the bill. This bill is about removing an active and proven threat to children. And the Colorado Democratic Party obviously has a problem with that.
This legislature is made up of people bought and paid for by Stryker and Gill. They should be proud.
And Tim Gill and Pat Stryker have what to do with this, aside from spending a bunch of money on Democrats? Did they phone in a no-vote on this? Did they testify in opposition? I'm all for electing Republicans but c'mon, what a stretch. This kind of thing just makes our side look petty.
What's more, are Republicans all of a sudden for laws passed out of sympathy for victims? Isn't that a major problem in the gun control debate?
And anyone who voted for the scumbags who voted this down should be ashamed of themselves, too.