Panel rejects bills on youth sex offenders - Debate tackles consent, sentencing

At Monday's Senate Judiciary Committee, Ebony Richards, 27, testified about her fiance, who she said is branded as a sex offender and cannot be alone with their children because of a conviction nearly a decade ago for having sex with a young neighbor. He was 15 at the time. The girl was 13, Richards testified.

Mark Faull, special counsel to Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, said he believes even young people can be sexual predators and prosecutors should have the tools to treat them as such. The debate over the two bills centered on two key issues: who should decide the length of sentences or probation young sex offenders face and when a teenager should be able to consent to sex with another teen. Senate Bill 1425 would have changed the age range that can result in a felony conviction for consensual sexual contact. Under current state law, sexual contact, from touching to intercourse, with anyone younger than 15 is a felony, even if the youths are close in age and the contact is consensual. The bill would have kept 15- or 16-year-olds that have consensual contact with 13- or 14-year-olds from facing felony charges and the same with young adults up to age 20 who have contact with consenting teens up to three years their junior.

Bill Montgomery, who ran unsuccessfully for Arizona attorney general last year, testified that changing law to allow 13-year-olds to consent to sex with 15-year-olds would be tantamount to telling them that such behavior is OK. "I think it sends the wrong message," he said, comparing removing felony statutes for sex among teens to removing speed bumps from streets just because everyone speeds. Johnson and Sen. Ken Cheuvront, D-Phoenix, strongly defended the measures as not being soft on crime, but realistic. Kids are having sex at those ages; the unfortunate ones should not face lifelong consequences for it, they said. [...]

The other bill, SB1426, would allow judges, not prosecutors, to decide when a lengthy mandatory sentence is appropriate for juveniles charged as adults. Now, a youth who is prosecuted as an adult is subject to the same lengthy mandatory sentences as someone much older, which could mean decades behind bars or lifelong probation. Faull defended his office's prosecution decisions, while the bill's supporters said they believed those decisions should rest with the court.

source: 'Panel rejects bills on youth sex offenders - Debate tackles consent, sentencing' by Amanda J. Crawford; www.azcentral.com/specials/special12//articles/0213youthoffenders0213.html; azcentral.com; 13 February 2007