April 18, 2012

House approves bill banning sex offenders from social networking websites

This state just won't quit no matter how many losses they have in the courts. Here we see banning many folks that bears no relationship to the law, its like Lawmakers are mad at these folks so they choose to further punishment.
4-18-2012 Louisiana:

Baton Rouge -- The Louisiana House voted 97-1 Tuesday for a rewritten version of legislation banning sex offenders convicted of crimes against children from social websites, a replacement for one that was ruled unconstitutional by a federal court several weeks ago. House Bill 620 by Rep. Ledricka Thierry, D-Opelousas, now goes to the Senate. The lone vote against the bill came from Rep. Marcus Hunter, D-Monroe, who objected to the length of the prison sentences for violations in Thierry's bill.

The bill would ban from social websites individuals convicted of a sex offense involving minors, pornography involving juveniles, indecent behavior with juveniles, computer-aided solicitation of minors or video voyeurism.

Thierry said her bill is more tightly drawn than the law struck down by U.S. District Court Judge Brian Jackson of Baton Rouge. She said the bill does not ban an offender from access to the Internet as the previous version did.

"This applies to certain sites, the social networking websites," she said. Thierry said the main purpose of the bill is to prevent offenders from "setting up personal profiles" on the Internet.

Jackson, in throwing out the law that was enacted last year at Gov. Bobby Jindal's request, ruled the prohibitions were overly broad and could prevent offenders from reading news, job-search and governmental websites.

This year's bill, also backed by Jindal, bans the intentional use of social networking websites that require the posting of photos, personal profiles and for "facilitating social interaction with other users of the site."

The bill calls for a jail sentence of up to 10 years without suspension of sentence or early release, and up to a $10,000 fine; a repeat offense could result in a maximum fine of $20,000, and a minimum of five years and up to 20 years in prison without suspension of sentence.

Hunter tried to remove provisions that would prevent suspension of sentence or early release of the offender. He called the sentences "quite excessive, stressing that the individuals have already served jail time for the main offense.

"The purpose of the law is for those who have used the computer to lure their victims," Thierry said, asking the House to reject Hunter's changes. Lawmakers complied with her request, 8-83.

Earlier in the day, a pair of Senate committees passed several other crime-related bills on to the floor.

Senate Bill 243, by Rep. Danny Martiny, R-Metairie, would impose penalties of up to a year in jail and a $500 fine on anyone who did not report the killing, rape or sexual abuse of a child. Martiny said the bill was inspired by the death of Caylee Anthony in Florida and the acquittal of her mother, Casey Anthony.

That bill was sent on to the full Senate, though members of the Senate's Judiciary C Committee said they were concerned it would cause problems in cases where someone might abuse both their spouse and their child, turning the victimized spouse into a criminal. Several bills in both chambers deal with similar issues.

Another measure, Senate Bill 686, was inspired by a text message sent to Sen. Robert Adley. The Benton Republican said he was sitting at home one night when he received a text that included a "picture of this elderly man and woman having sex," Adley told the committee. When he tried to figure out who sent the text, Adley said he was rebuffed with language that wasn't fit for the committee room.

After learning from police that there was no law against sending unsolicited, explicit texts, Adley said he decided to draft one. The bill would consider such actions as a subcategory of the crime of obscenity. ..Source.. by Ed Anderson

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