Protecting our children against sexual predators: Internet Crimes and Jessica's Law
The Governor has a strong history of advocating for the protection of children against sexual predators. His work on the subject predates his time as governor and goes back to his service as U.S. Attorney for the state of Wyoming. He is proud of the fact that Wyoming leads the world in fighting Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC). The Wyoming ICAC unit (a component of the Wyoming Attorney General's Office and the Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI)) has been strengthened as a result of the Governor's efforts and now trains law enforcement personnel throughout the United States and from around the world, including Canada, France, Malta and Egypt, in the detection, tracking, arrest and prosecution of the online sex offenders that target our children.
Recently, Governor Freudenthal supported the addition of two DCI agents dedicated solely to child exploitation cases. The state now has five agents, which are assisted by two federal agents. As a result, the Wyoming ICAC Task Force has been instrumental in identifying over 7 million transactions involving the illegal distribution of child sexual abuse images in 200 countries.
Connected with his work on Jessica's Law and ICAC cases, the Governor has pushed for, and the Legislature has enacted, laws strengthening our child exploitation and solicitation laws and ensuring that those convicted of child exploitation (internet or otherwise) are labeled as sex offenders. Those laws have resulted in several amendments to Wyoming law in 2003:
- The inclusion of child exploitation in violation of W.S. 6-4-303 as a registerable sex offense.
- Changes to the definition of child exploitation under Wyoming law to deal with "morphed" images consistent with U.S. Supreme Court decisions.
- Amended Wyoming statute 14-3-104 to close a loophole potentially thwarting undercover investigations of internet child predators by removing the defense of "the person who I was talking to on-line was really an undercover cop and not a child."
The Governor supports a one strike and you're out approach to sex offenders, meaning a minimum mandatory life sentence for a first offense sexual assault on a child. He also supports the inclusion of every sex offender on a publicly available website. For more details on the Governor's specific views on sexual predators, read his testimonies to the Joint Judiciary Interim Committee on sexual predators.
Written Comments of Governor Dave Freudenthal to the Joint Judiciary Interim Committee - Thursday, August 24, 2006:
Please accept my thanks for your continued work on legislation that will protect Wyoming citizens from rapists and child molesters. The issue of enhancing penalties for those who commit the heinous act of sexual assault or child molestation is a serious issue worthy of your serious consideration.
When I appeared before your committee on May 23, 2006, I clearly announced my resolve to push for at least two changes to Wyoming statutes:
- Statutory provisions calling for a minimum mandatory life sentence on a first offense of sexual assault on a child; and
- Statutory provisions requiring all convicted sex offenders to be posted on a public website.
I am pleased that the committee is still pushing forward on legislation that will require all sex offenders to be posted on public website. I strongly urge your adoption as a committee of bill 07LSO-0009.W1, which will require all offenders to be posted on a public website. The time to pass this legislation is now. As will be more fully explained by my representatives at the meeting, such legislation is necessary under the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006.
The public deserves to know whether one of their neighbors has been convicted of a sexual offense regardless of some assessment of future dangerousness. Judges and psychiatrists do not have a crystal ball predicting future behavior and if we have to err, I will err on the side of giving the citizens of Wyoming and the public information they need to take steps to protect themselves and their children.
I am, however, disappointed that your committee is apparently not considering 06LSO-070 (HB66 from last session), which was a committee bill last session. This bill, which provides for life without parole for a second offense of sexually assaulting a child, is a priority for me. We all know that a "first conviction" for sexually assaulting a child does not equate into a "first offense" of sexually assaulting a child. Please see my written comments from the May 23, 2006, hearing which are attached hereto. By the time a person has been convicted of sexually assaulting a child a second time, the person has left a string of hundreds of traumatized victims in his wake. We need to act now to separate these monsters from society and our children. As I have said on prior occasions, I would prefer a "one strike and you are out" law but can live with a "two strikes" law as set forth in 06 LSO-0171. I strongly urge this committee to consider this bill for the upcoming session.
I also want to comment on the effect of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. This federal legislation, which comes with the usual federal threat of loss of federal money if we don't pass conforming statutes, must be complied with within the next three years. I urge the committee to go forward with your important work on the issues of sex offender registry and modification of sexual assault statutes. The passage of 07LSO-0009 is a necessary step in compliance with Adam Walsh and should be passed now. There will, no doubt, be some fine tuning of Wyoming statutes necessary in future sessions but we should not delay passage of important legislation because of concern about the effect of the vagaries of the federal legislation.
Our citizens deserve greater protection from pedophiles and rapists today regardless of what legislation has been passed at the federal level.
Testimony of Governor Dave Freudenthal to the Joint Judiciary Interim Committee - Tuesday, May 23, 2006:
I want to extend my thanks to Chairmen Hanes and Landon and members of the Committee for allowing me to appear and share my thoughts concerning the protection of children and needed statutory changes to insure that Wyoming does not become a haven for those who would sexually abuse our children or any citizen of Wyoming.
My thoughts on this issue are three-fold.
First, I have long pursued the creation of minimum mandatory sentences for those who sexually abuse children. I first argued for such statutory tools for law enforcement, prosecutors, and judges in 1999. Sadly, we were not successful then, and House Bill 66 last session, which would have provided for a minimum mandatory life sentence for a second offense involving the sexual assault of a child, also died. In my estimation, we must protect society from these monsters and the only effective way to do so is to impose punishment to forever separate them from our most vulnerable members of society who many times cannot protect themselves from a much older and more intelligent criminal.
My years as U.S. Attorney, my years as Governor, and my life experiences all tell me that this is the only option that balances the protection of society with the gravity of the crime committed. I do not believe that anyone can argue with the fact that:
- It is highly unlikely that anyone who is reported, investigated, charged, tried, convicted, and sentenced is truly a "first offender." Polygraph examinations on imprisoned sex offenders with less than two known offenses show that these defendants have actually molested an average of 110 children involving 318 offenses before being imprisoned.
- Scientific literature suggests that you cannot rehabilitate a pedophile.
- The damage inflicted on victims is extraordinary. Sexually abusing a child to satisfy some depraved desire robs that child of all innocence. The emotional and psychological trauma lasts for a lifetime and throws significant barriers in the way of that person becoming a productive member of society. Meanwhile, the defendant, who is temporarily satisfied, like a lion after eating a zebra, sleeps it off for a while and goes back on the hunt next time he gets hungry.
We have to protect our children from these criminals. I am convinced that the only way to do so is to pursue sentences that separate them from society. I urge you to pass legislation providing for minimum mandatory life sentences for anyone who sexually assaults a child. I could live with "two strikes and you're out" but would prefer "one strike" legislation.
Second, we have to modify our sexual offenders' registry to provide that anyone convicted of sexually assaulting another human being is posted on a public internet website. As you know, we supported a bill last session, which was sponsored by Senator Sessions, which was ultimately tabled by the Senate Judiciary Committee. We need to take this action for several reasons:
- It is fair to our citizens and gives them the broadest possible information about what dangers may be facing themselves and their loved ones.
The existing sexual offender registry process makes otherwise public information confidential.
Defendants are charged in public documents, have a public trial, a public sentencing, and public records exist concerning their identity, conviction, sentence, and the circumstances of their crime. The sex offender registry process and assessment of "future dangerousness," however, hides the majority of these publicly sentenced criminals to the public at large. The process defies logic and common sense.
The existing system just does not work. It is an unnecessary burden on our sheriffs. Prosecutors have long complained that they do not have the tools necessary to adequately access the defendant's propensity to re-offend.
Wyoming cannot become a playground for convicted rapists. Unless we stay consistent with or more stringent than other states on our registry process, we invite sexual offenders to Wyoming. That is not the kind of economic development we should promote.
I urge you to adopt Senator Sessions' bill from last session (Senate File 81) as a committee bill and get this legislation passed. We sorely need this legislation now.
Third, I should also briefly comment on several other bills that failed last session that deserve consideration. Representative Gingery proposed a total rewrite of our sexual offense statutes in House Bill 140. Representatives Lubnau and Pedersen proposed House Bill 185 which would have enhanced penalties for sexual offenses. Senator Jennings proposed Senate File 97 dealing with ankle bracelet monitoring. While all of these proposals appear to me to be like any legislation - works in progress - I believe all of these subjects are worthy of your considered study.
Thank you for your time today and I look forward to working closely with you on this important topic.
