Interesting…

BISMARCK – Violent sex offenders would receive a minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and lifetime probation if legislation discussed today is approved.

The bill would apply to offenders convicted of a Class AA felony who compelled their victims to submit to a sexual act by force or threat of imminent death, serious bodily injury or kidnapping.

This would include first-time violent offenders, said Ryan Bernstein, legal counsel for Gov. John Hoeven.

“It is unjust to the victim that the perpetrator of such a horrible crime could be back on the street within a few years because, of right now, there is no minimum sentence a violent sexual offender must serve,” Bernstein said.

I agree with the goals of this legislation.  I’ve long argued that we’ve got our priorities backward when it comes to sex offenders.  While we imprison hundreds of thousands of people across the nation for marijuana-related offenses, dangerous sex criminals like Alphonso Rodriguez (Dru Sjodin’s killer) are released into our communities despite warnings that they are highly at risk for repeating their crimes.  We should be asking ourselves which we’d rather have living in our communities: A pot head or a sex criminal?

That being said, mandatory sentencing requirements worry me as they don’t leave a lot of room for judges to use discretion when applying the law.  Consider that down in Illinois a man was charged with a “sex crime” for simply grabbing a 14 year-old girl by the arm and lecturing her after she ran out in front of his moving car.  That, obviously, was not a sex crime but it illustrates why we must be careful with mandatory sentencing.  If we’re going to be automatically putting sex criminals in jail for 20 years then we need to make sure that what is and is not a sex crime is rigorously and appropriately defined.

That caveat aside, though, I’m all in favor of putting sex criminals away.  And my concerns do seem to be addressed in this legislation.

I’d go even further as to say that repeat offenders should be put in jail for life.  These people can’t be rehabilitated and need to be kept out of our communities.