New Jersey Senate passes stiffer terms for child sex offenders

10-5-2012 New Jersey:

The New Jersey Senate approved a bill Thursday that would lock up certain child sex offenders for a minimum of 25 years. The measure had languished for years and drew the attention last summer of conservative commentator Bill O'Reilly.

The Jessica Lunsford Act, named for a 9-year-old Florida girl who was kidnapped, raped, and murdered by a registered sex offender in 2005, would punish those convicted of aggravated sexual assault against a child under 13 with a 25-years-to-life prison sentence. The bill also would sentence anyone who harbored such an offender to a minimum of six months in jail and impose up to $10,000 in fines.

The Senate, ruled by Democrats, voted 31-0 in favor. In the Assembly, the bill remains in committee.

Sen. Diane Allen (R., Burlington) introduced the bill in 2005, but it never made it to a floor vote until this week. New Jersey is one of the few states that has not enacted some type of "Jessica" law.

"I think politics played a role, unfortunately," Allen said after the vote. "Hopefully we won't have to deal with that again. I'm happy that this was a bipartisan effort." ...continued... by Joelle Farrell