Colorado Continues to Toughen Penalties for Sex Crimes
On July 1, 2009, two new laws took effect in Colorado, increasing the scope and severity of some of the state's sex offense laws.
September 28, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Colorado Continues to Toughen Penalties for Sex Crimes
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On July 1, 2009, two new laws went into effect in Colorado that increased the scope and severity of some of the state's sex offense laws.
House Bill 09-1132 added telephone networks, data networks, text messaging and instant messaging as methods by which the following four crimes may be committed:
-Computer dissemination of indecent material to a child
-Internet luring of a child
-Internet sexual exploitation of a child
-Harassment - stalking
For example, under the new law if someone sends a sexually explicit photograph from his or her phone to a person he or she believes to be a child under age 15, that person can be charged with sending indecent material to a child. Before the changes in the law, the photo would only violate the law if it was sent from a computer system or network.
Additionally, a person now can be charged with Internet luring even though he or she never used the Internet. The new law makes it crime to send a text message that describes sexually explicit conduct to a person you know or believe to be 14 years old or younger and then to ask, invite or otherwise try to set up a meeting with that person. The invitation to meet and the sexually explicit content do not have to be sent in the same text message, but may be included over the course of several messages.
House Bill 09-1163 also made several changes to Colorado's sex offense laws. Now, to be charged with Internet Sexual Exploitation of a Child, the offender must have known or believed the child was younger than 15 years old at the time of the offense and the offender must have been at least 4 years older than the child. There is a similar requirement to be convicted of Internet luring.
The changes included in House Bill 09-1163 also make it a Class 4 felony for a person to possess one video, video tape or motion picture of child pornography under the Sexual Exploitation of Children law. Previously, a person had to have more than 20 different sexually exploitative items in their possession to be charged with a Class 4 felony.
Punishments Continue to Escalate in Colorado, Nationally
This latest round of changes in the law represents the continuing efforts by the Colorado General Assembly to increase the types of conduct that can be punished as sex crimes and the severity of the punishments for those convicted of committing these crimes.
Sex crime laws in the state have been undergoing a mass expansion over the past 15+ years, following the creation of the Sex Offender Management Board (SOMB). SOMB is charged with developing standards and guidelines for evaluating, treating and punishing sex offenders in Colorado. In determining punishments, SOMB considers several factors, including how long the crime affects the victim and the likelihood that the offender will commit another sex crime (recidivism).
Since SOMB was created in 1992, Colorado has seen a rapid increase in the severity of the punishments for sex offenses. For example, sexual assault used to be a Class 4 felony that carried a 2-6 year jail sentence. Now, depending on the circumstances of the crime, someone charged with sexual assault can be sentenced to life in prison.
Colorado is not the only state that has undertaken massive efforts to strengthen its laws against sex offenders. Across the nation states have been involved in similar efforts, particularly with regard to sex crimes against children committed using technology. The federal government also has passed sweeping legislation in recent years to force the states to adopt more uniform standards for sex offender registries and increases the federal penalties that offenders may be charged with for committing certain types of sex crimes against children.
Conclusion
Allegations of sex crimes alone are enough to ruin your reputation and impact your life for years to come. A conviction for a sex offense will have an even greater effect on your life, forcing you to live with the stigma of being a convicted sex offender and facing the possibility of life-time registration with the state's sex offender registry.
If you have been charged with committing a sex crime, you need to take the allegation seriously, even if you believe it is meritless. There is more at stake than you may realize and the consequences of a conviction will follow you around for the rest of your life. For more information, contact an experienced criminal defense attorney today.
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