The penalty would mandate 25 years to life for the most violent sexual crimes against children, impose tougher sentences for worst and repeat sex offenders and strengthen other sexual assault laws.
"As a father of four, I can hardly imagine anything worse than the sexual abuse of a child," Governor Pataki said. "This new legislation will ensure that if you commit the worst kind of violent sexual crime against a child, you will go to prison for a minimum of 25 years. But Jessica's Law will do more than that--it will also raise the age threshold for crimes against children and further penalize the worst-of-the-worst sexual predators as well as repeat sexual offenders."
"Last week westrengthened Megan's Law. Today I am proposingJessica's Law. And still, we can and must do more to further ensure the safety of our children and families. We still need to work together to pass new laws that would further toughen Megan's Law, protect our children and families by civilly confining dangerous sexual predators, toughen sentences for those who molest and rape children, end the statute of limitations on rape, and require every criminal to submit a DNA sample to the State's DNA Databank," the Governor added.
