Not long ago, a local TV news report highlighted how some of Minnesota’s convicted sexual predators were somehow receiving probation instead of prison sentences. An added insult: they aren’t even listed on Minnesota’s sex offender registry.
Minnesotans, not to mention a significant number of state lawmakers, were rightfully outraged.
Basically, certain county courts have been using stays of adjudication as a tool for cases involving criminal sexual conduct towards children. The defendants would enter guilty pleas in court but instead of prison the defendants entered probation. If they successfully completed a treatment program, the charges would be dismissed and no conviction would appear on the defendant’s record.
But as the report found, with their crimes shielded from the public, the abuse didn’t always stop.
A child molester from Maplewood who received a stay of adjudication for repeatedly having relations with a 13-year-old Carlton County girl in 2014 then took advantage of an 11-year-old Maplewood girl last year. Her family, of course, had no idea the man was a sexual predator.
To address this nonsense, I am co-authoring legislation that would strengthen criminal sexual conduct laws. The bill will eliminate stays of imposition and adjudication for sex crimes, increase supervision post incarceration for some crimes from ten years to life, and increase the length of punishment for those convicted of child pornography crimes. This bill would become effective August 1, 2017 and apply to offenses committed after that date.
We recently heard testimony about this proposal in our House Public Safety and Security Policy and Finance Committee. The stories ranged from outrageous to gut-wrenching, as time and again I was left wondering why these sexual predators were allowed to be given a sentence that was basically a slap on the wrist.
So how many of those who admit to a sex crime against a child receive a stay of adjudication and go on to re-offend? According to the news story, the State Court Administrator’s Office said there’s no way to pull that data from its computer records.
We can say for certain that at least one 11-year-old girl was abused due to this process, and now she’ll have to deal with the after-effects for the rest of her life.
One victim is far too many. If you have committed a criminal sex act against a child, you deserve a significant punishment and the public deserves to know about it. This legislation would deliver on both of these goals.
The bill was held for possible inclusion in a comprehensive public safety proposal that will unveiled in the coming weeks, and I’m confident it will make the cut.
As always, I am interested in your feedback. Please feel free to contact me by e-mail at Rep.Kathy.Lohmer@House.MN or contact my office at 651-296-4244. You can also send mail to my office address: 501 State Office Building, 100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., St. Paul, MN 55155.