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(MONTPELIER) – Lt. Governor Brian Dubie today urged Governor Douglas to convene a special session of the Vermont legislature to begin to reform state laws concerning sexual predators.

He also launched a statewide petition drive, inviting Vermonters who agree that the state can do more to protect children and women against sexual predators to sign and circulate the petition, which is available on his website at www.ltgov.vermont.gov

Among the reforms he called for are:

• A comprehensive review of our criminal justice system. I call for a thorough investigation of Vermont's laws and policies that should protect Vermont’s children from sex offenders.

• Adoption of a Jessica’s Law, which would set a 25-year mandatory minimum prison sentence for a first-time convicted child sexual abuser. Our law could be modeled on New Hampshire’s law that includes a “presumptive” clause, for cases where the evidence is weak or the victim chooses not to testify. It allows a judge to impose a lesser term, accompanied by explanation of the decision. We would essentially be strengthening Vermont’s current law, which has a “presumptive” 10-year minimum sentence and a 5-year minimum mandatory sentence.

• A mandatory life sentence for a second-time violent sexual offense against a child.

• Passage of a civil confinement law that would extend prison stays for certain high-risk offenders who have served their terms, but who by clear criteria are known to be highly likely to re-offend.

• Utilizing chemical castration and physical castration treatments for habitual sex offenders

• Broadening the criteria for listing child predators on Vermont’s Online Sex Offender Registry, and making it more user-friendly, as it is in other states, and for better monitoring of sex offenders using GPS technology.

• Tough penalties for those who harbor a sex offender who violates registration requirements.

• Expansion and funding for Special Investigative Units, to improve conviction rates and sentencing.

• Adoption of laws that would allow evidence of prior sexual misconduct to be admissible in sex crimes cases, as it is in 12 other states and in federal court.

• Collection by law enforcement authorities of DNA samples from anyone arrested in our state that could assist in cracking unsolved sex crimes.

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