Senate Bill 622

Crimes - Sexual Offenses Against Children - Jessica's Law

Enhancement

Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee

The O’Malley-Brown Administration supports Senate Bill 622 - Crimes - Sexual

Offenses Against Children - Penalties, proposed legislation increasing the
mandatory minimum and maximum sentences for a person convicted of rape in
the second degree or sexual offense in the second degree of a child under the age
of 13 years.

The highest priority of government is the public’s safety, particularly the safety of
our children. In 2007, Governor O’Malley was honored to sign into law Senate
Bill 413/House Bill 930, Jessica's Law - Sexual Offenses - Parole Eligibility and
Mandatory Minimum Sentences, which mandated that persons convicted of first
degree rape and first degree sex offense were not eligible for parole during their
25 year mandatory minimum sentence. The O’Malley-Brown Administration has
also championed the use of innovative public safety technologies to track sex
offenders, such as clinical polygraph examinations, computer monitoring, and
GPS tracking. These innovative technologies, coupled with a zero tolerance
policy for violations, have assisted in lowering the recidivism rate for sex
offenders under active supervision to less than one-third of one percent.
Governor O’Malley also dedicated the necessary resources to close an inherited
backlog of 24,000 unanalyzed and 15,000 uncollected DNA samples. As a result
of that effort, the State has used this DNA evidence to arrest 106 sex offenders.

This legislative session, the Administration has sponsored legislation to require

lifetime monitoring for serious and repeat sex offenders, close the loopholes in
our sex offender registry, and align Maryland’s laws with federal child safety
regulations. These important public safety initiatives, along with the enhanced
sentencing provisions in Senate Bill 622, will help protect Maryland citizens from
the dangers of sexual predators.

For all of the above reasons, the Administration urges a favorable report on
Senate Bill 622.