Jeb Bush Signs The Jessica Lunsford Act Into Law

 

Florida Governor, Jeb Bush, has just signed the Jessica Lunsford Act in to law. This will be the most comprehensive law against child sex offenders in the country.

TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Governor Jeb Bush plans to sign legislation today to get much tougher on sex offenders, an effort spurred by the death of Jessica Lunsford.

The measure will require those who prey on the youngest children to be sentenced to at least 25 years and if they get out of prison to be tracked for life.

The Jessica Lunsford Act was quickly drafted after her death was discovered in March, and sped through the legislative process.

Lawmakers unanimously passed the Legislature last month. Nine-year-old Jessica was taken from her Homosassa home and murdered, allegedly by a convicted sex offender who was living nearby.

John Couey is charged with Lunsford’s kidnapping and murder. Police say he confessed.

The bill would require 25-year minimum prison terms for people convicted of certain sex crimes against children and lifetime tracking by global positioning satellite once they’re outside of
prison.

Congress is also considering adapting the Jessica Lunsford Act to protect children against child predators.

First there was Megan’s Law, and then came the Amber Alert law. Now Congress is considering the Jessica Lunsford Act.

All three bills have something in common: They were named after slain children, and their goal is to prevent future tragedies.

The bill was introduced in the House last week in response to the February abduction, sexual assault and murder of Jessica Lunsford, a 9-year-old Florida girl. The suspect in the case is a registered sex offender who had not told authorities he had moved.

It is about time that law makers are taking these crimes seriously. It is just unfortunate that it took a rash of extremely public abductions and murders of children in order to bring pressure to bare against legislators to pass these laws. I have always wondered why there were not more strict laws.

“I would like to see them stay in jail a lot longer than we do (but) anything that we can do to try to minimize the opportunity a sex offender has to harm children is a good thing,” Foxx said.

Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-10th, another co-sponsor, agreed.

“I don’t think we can do enough to protect children,” McHenry said.

“We need to have the harshest possible punishment for those who hurt those who cannot protect themselves,” he said.

UPDATE: Fox News first to confirm the Governor’s signing of The Jessica Lunsford Law.

Spurred by the kidnapping and murder of a Citrus County girl, Gov. Jeb Bush signed legislation Monday to get much tougher on sex offenders.

The Jessica Lunsford Act requires those who prey on the youngest to be sentenced to at least 25 years in prison and if they get out to be tracked for life.

UPDATE II: More from the AP

With the father of a slain 9-year-old looking on, Gov. Jeb Bush signed legislation Monday that strengthens punishment and monitoring of child sex abusers.

Update III: Michelle Malkin posts some interesting points and asks that same question we have, “How will the ACLU react.”

Posted May 2, 2005 by
Child Welfare, Politics | 3 comments


If you liked this post, you may also like these:

  • Texas Governor Signed Jessica’s Law: Child Sex Predators, Don’t Mess with Texas
  • John Couey Confession Tossed out by Judge in Jessica Lunsford Rape & Murder
  • GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY: Sex Offender John Couey Found Guilty in Jessica Lunsford Murder
  • Breaking News – John Couey Convicted in Jessica Lunsford Murder – Jury Recommends Death Penalty
  • John Couey Trial Begins today in the Kidnapping, Rape & Murder of Jessica Lunsford




  • Comments

    3 Responses to “Jeb Bush Signs The Jessica Lunsford Act Into Law”

    1. betty on May 2nd, 2005 12:48 pm

      Right after this happened I sent an email to McCain asking that he take up this matter but never heard a beep from his office. Interesting to see if his name appears on any legislation.

    2. Red on May 2nd, 2005 1:04 pm

      betty,

      Our law makers (ALL, Dems/Reps/Ind) number 1 job is to protect its citizens. If we cannot protect the most innocent and defenseless of them who can we? It shouldn’t matter if they can vote or not whether we pass laws to protect them.

      My fear is to see the reaction of the ACLU, I can only imagine?

    3. Deb Ganley on June 30th, 2005 12:03 am

      They’ve been very quiet thru this horrible situation–& rightfully so–they don’t have a leg to stand on & would get much public outcry if they tried to defend this child killer, or any lawmaker who had a problem with Jessica’s law. If any senator or congressperson caved to the ACLU on this issue, I’d be the first to go to DC & confront them. If they can’t defend a helpless child, they don’t deserve our votes. Thank God for Mark Lunsford who is willing to work past his grief & work to help other kids.

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