WASHINGTON — Sen. Chuck Grassley today said that "Jetseta’s Bill," legislation he introduced in April to guarantee punishment for criminals who commit violent crimes against children, has been included in a larger child sex offender bill that passed the Judiciary Committee today.
The modified "Jetseta’s Bill" was incorporated into a larger child sex offender bill that also includes legislation introduced by Sens. Orin Hatch and Joe Biden to strengthen and reform the State sex offender registries and legislation by Sen. Byron Dorgan to create a national sex offender database.
"The urgency of passing legislation of this nature has been highlighted over the past year because of the murder of Jetseta Gage and several other children. Many of these murders were committed by a repeat sex offender. These cases should open our eyes to the necessity of passing legislation that will give sex offenders tougher penalties for the crimes they commit and will allow us to monitor them more closely," Grassley said.
The Jetseta Gage Prevention and Deterrence of Crimes Against Children Act provision in the bill includes:
Mandatory Minimums
The bill would guarantee punishment for criminals who commit violent crimes against children by establishing stiff mandatory minimums. The bill establishes the following mandatory minimums for offenders who commit violent crimes against children with the intent to commit a sex crime:
-if the crime of violence results in death of a child under 12 years - life in prison;
-if the crime of violence is kidnapping, or maiming or results in serious bodily injury - 30 years to life;
-if the crime of violence results in bodily injury of a child under 12 years - 10 years to life;
-if a dangerous weapon is used - 10 years to life;
Increased Penalties
The bill would increase the penalties for sexual offenses against children. The bill increases penalties for the following five federal crimes:
-Aggravated sexual abuse of children
-Abusive sexual contact with children
-Sexual abuse of children resulting in death
-Sexual exploitation of children
-Using misleading domain names to direct children to harmful material on the internet
Here is Grassley’s prepared statement from the Judiciary Committee Business Meeting today.
Mr. Chairman, thank you for scheduling a markup today on the sex offender legislation. What we do here today will have a tremendous impact on state and federal efforts to protect our children from sexual abuse and murder.
The urgency of passing legislation of this nature has been highlighted over the past year. The murders of Jessica Lunsford, Sara Lunde, and Jetseta Gage, who was from my state of Iowa, have drawn a great deal of attention to the problem. Each of these murders was committed by a repeat sex offender. These cases should open our eyes to the necessity of passing legislation that will give sex offenders tougher penalties for the crimes they commit and will allow us to monitor them more closely.
I would like to take a moment to talk about the murder of the Iowa girl that my bill is named for, Jetseta Marrie Gage. On March 24 of this year, Jetseta, a beautiful 10 year old girl from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, went missing from her home. Within 12 hours of her disappearance, even before a body had been found, law enforcement officials took Roger Bentley into custody, a man who had been previously convicted for committing lascivious acts with a minor. Unfortunately, this man only served a little over one year in prison for his previous sex crime conviction. Two days later, due to a tip received by a woman responding to the Amber Alert, Jetseta's body was found stuffed in a cabinet in an abandoned mobile home. She had been sexually molested and suffocated with a plastic bag.
I can't help but wonder whether Jetseta would still be alive today had her killer received stricter penalties for his first offense. It breaks my heart to hear about cases like this, but it's even more disheartening when you know that it might have been prevented with adequate sentencing and monitoring.
Her story and others like it demonstrate why we need to enact a comprehensive bill to protect children. S. 1086 as amended by the managers' substitute amendment is such a bill. For the last few weeks my staff has been working with the staff of the Chairman and Senators Hatch and Biden to produce a bill to address the appropriate sentencing of child sex offenders and to improve how we monitor these criminals.
The substitute amendment combines the original Hatch/Biden bill to strengthen and reform the State sex offender registries with my bill to increase mandatory minimum sentences and enhance penalties for crimes against children and Senator Dorgan's "Dru Sjodin" bill to create a national sex offender database.
I want to thank Chairman Specter for his commitment to moving these pieces of legislation together as a combined managers' package. I also want to thank Senators Hatch and Biden for their willingness to work with me to include the Jetseta Gage Prevention and Deterrence of Crimes Against Children Act as a title in S.1086.
In drafting a bill acceptable to the majority of the members of this Committee, a number of changes had to be made to the combined bills. As part of the consensus building process, I agreed to take out a death penalty provision for crimes of violence committed against children that result in the death of a child. I understand that a number of the members of this Committee have qualms about the expansion of the death penalty. I appreciate their concern. I come at the death penalty with much soberness and thoughtfulness. I value human life and would only support expanding the death penalty for the worst types of crimes. I believe that this is one of those crimes that warrant this penalty.
I also agreed to delete certain mandatory minimum sentences which I believe would have helped keep sex offenders off the streets for longer periods of time. At the request of some of our Democratic colleagues, I removed the mandatory minimum sentences for offenses related to child pornography and child prostitution. Frankly, I believe that these are serious offenses that should be dealt with more harshly.
Additionally, I deleted a section of my bill which would have reformed the habeas corpus system for crimes against children. These reforms would have ensured a fairer and more expeditious federal appellate review of convictions. Until we enact some of these reforms, we will continue to have situations like that of Christy Ann Fornoff of Tempe, Arizona. During the debate on the Streamlined Procedures Act (S.1088), Senator Kyl informed the Committee of this tragic situation, in which the case against the murderer of little Christy Ann Fornoff is still working its way through the federal habeas system - an astounding 21 years after the murder and 13 years after the habeas proceedings were begun.
In a spirit of compromise I was willing to delete these critical provisions from the bill. As the old saying goes, "a half loaf is better than no loaf at all." That doesn't mean that I'm any less committed to seeing these provisions enacted in the future.
Mr. Chairman, I again want to thank you for your support in this process and for the way in which your staff has facilitated the merger of these important bills.
We may never know the full impact this bill will have, but I'm sure that the work we do here today will save the lives of countless children. I urge my colleagues to support S. 1086 as amended.
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