Va. lawmakers back mandatory life for child rape

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The Roanoke Times
© February 11, 2012

By Michael Sluss

RICHMOND

The state Senate passed legislation today to increase criminal penalties for certain sex offenses and to require juvenile sex offenders older than 13 to register with a limited-access state sex offender registry

The Senate voted 27-13 to pass a bill (SB436) calling for a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison for offenders 18 and older who are convicted of rape, forcible sodomy or object sexual penetration of a child younger than 13. Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg, is sponsoring the bill, which is part of Gov. Bob McDonnell’s legislative agenda. An identical measure (HB973) is pending in the House of Delegates.

Under existing law, felony sexual assaults generally are punishable by prison terms of five years to life. In 2006, lawmakers added a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years for offenses involving a victim younger than 13 that are committed in conjunction with kidnapping, burglary, or malicious wounding.

By a vote of 26-14, the Senate today also passed legislation (SB127) requiring juvenile offenders older than 13 to register with the state’s sex offender registry if they are convicted of rape, forcible sodomy, or object sexual penetration. The information about juveniles would not be available on a public website and would be accessible only to law enforcement authorities, said Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin County, the bill’s sponsor.

Stanley said the law is needed to keep Virginia in compliance with the federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act. Del. Dave Marsden, D-Fairfax County, raised concerns that the law would put juvenile offenders under a lifelong cloud.

“The fact is we’re making decisions about 14-year-olds, unfinished products, if you will,” Marsden said. “This is overreach.”

Stanley said the registry requirement would apply only to serious sex offenses committed by juveniles. The victims in those cases often are small children, Stanley said.

“We are not talking about larceny,” Stanley said. “We are not talking about joy-riding in a vehicle. We are talking about object sexual penetration, rape, forcible rape and sodomy of children.”

“This is not an overreach,” he said. “This is what is required.”

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Life in prison

Submitted by truthseeker on Sat, 02/11/2012 at 11:34 am.

Violent rape of a 13 year old by a person 18+ years old should be punished with life imprisonment, with confinement among the general population. Parole won't be a problem!

Rapists

Submitted by Just1Survivor on Sat, 02/11/2012 at 7:39 am.

Of course, rapists are almost NEVER convicted in Virginia, and if they are, the judges commute their sentences, so no rapist needs to fear this law.

Of the 4981 cases of

Submitted by surfvb on Sat, 02/11/2012 at 5:51 pm.

Of the 4981 cases of forcible sex in 2010, in Virginia, how many convictions were there? How many sentences were commuted?

Criminal registry

Submitted by KIGuy52 on Sat, 02/11/2012 at 5:02 am.

There should be a public registry for ALL felons, not just sex offenders. If a person moves into the neighborhood and he's been convicted of robbing from his neighbors, I'd like to know about it.

Catholic Church?

Submitted by Chris33 on Fri, 02/10/2012 at 7:05 pm.

This won't sit well with the Catholic Church. They are more interested in preventing contraception than preventing pedophillia.

Death penalty

Submitted by SirRantsAlot on Fri, 02/10/2012 at 5:05 pm.

What's wrong with the death penalty for these monsters?

8th Amendment

Submitted by InHRSince07 on Fri, 02/10/2012 at 7:54 pm.

The US Supreme Court has ruled that according to the 8th Amendment to the US Constitution, the death penalty is "cruel and unusual" for anything besides certain kinds of murder. That's the only thing "wrong" with it. The solution is to repeal the 8th Amendment.

They have, in my opinion,

Submitted by elizabeths78096 on Fri, 02/10/2012 at 10:44 pm.

They have, in my opinion, misinterpreted it. Hanging, drawing and quartering might be cruel. A needle in the arm is not as cruel as what has been done to the victims.

death penalty

Submitted by Margot Wasson on Fri, 02/10/2012 at 7:23 pm.

Personnaly, I am against the death penalty. There are only a few countries in the world who have the death penalty. For example, in order to join the European Union, that nation has to abolish the death penalty. In order to join the European Union, Turkey - secular/Muslim - abolished the death penality a few years ago and, no matter what the
American claims, it will be part of the EU soon. The US tops death penalties along with China. Google the rest.

According to Catholic Doctrine, it is the LAST resort to prevent the convicted killer to kill again. In other words, the issue for practicing Catholics, pacifists, and other opponents to the death penalty is prevention NOT revenge.