OLYMPIA – As he watched a high-profile child kidnapping case unfold in Idaho in the summer, Rep. Al O’Brien was struck by a message from the victims’ father: Impose longer prison terms for sex offenders.
From then on, the retired Seattle cop knew he’d found his marquee issue for the 2006 Legislature – and it’s clear he’s not alone.
Now, as the first batch of dozens of sex-crime bills come up for hearings today, O’Brien and others monitoring the session’s top crime issue say they’re anxious to get to work.
“The last two or three weeks, I’ve been going stir crazy just wanting to get going,” said O’Brien, D-Mountlake Terrace, chairman of the House Criminal Justice and Corrections Committee.
The long list of proposals aimed at sex offenders seems to grow daily at the Capitol, but some core issues have emerged. They include:
* Versions of a Florida law calling for 25-year-to-life sentences for serious sex crimes against children.
* Satellite monitoring for some sex offenders released to the community.
* Requiring those convicted of child pornography possession to register as sex offenders.
* Closing a loophole that gives sex offenders from other states a 30-day window before they must register after moving to Washington.
* Tougher penalties for convicts who fail to comply with registration laws, with hopes of better tracking of homeless offenders.
Many acknowledge the Idaho case that caught O’Brien’s attention – involving Tacoma native Joseph E. Duncan III – is a driving factor.
Duncan, a convicted sex offender, is accused of slaying an Idaho family of three and abducting two children for sex. Authorities allege Duncan later killed one of the children in Montana, but he has not yet been charged in that death.
The Duncan case also influenced the efforts of state Attorney General Rob McKenna, who developed a package of seven bills with attorneys from his sexually violent predators unit.
McKenna, a Republican, is still working on another measure barring offenders who have harmed children from places where kids congregate.
McKenna, who calls his bills “very measured,” downplays concerns that the Legislature may go too far in its bid to crack down on sex crimes.
“There isn’t much sympathy for going too far where sex offenders are concerned, particularly those who offend against children,” he said.
Some observers, however, worry that lawmakers will focus too heavily on punishment instead of revitalizing victim assistance programs.
“It takes a really enormous amount of work and sort of a spectrum of services to bring especially vulnerable and frail victims into the process,” said Suzanne Brown-McBride, director of the Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs.
House Republicans caused an early dustup over the issue when they unsuccessfully pressed for quick approval of a massive sex-offender bill on the Legislature’s first day.
Majority Democrats shot down the request, but GOP lawmakers say they’ll continue agitating for tougher prison sentences.
O’Brien thinks party politics surrounding the issue should die down before long.
“It should be a bipartisan issue, because it’s so important,” he said.
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