Longer sex-abuse terms?

An adult victim of child sex abuse asked the Utah Sentencing Commission on Wednesday to increase the minimum mandatory sentence for sex offenders to 25 years.

While current law places mandatory sentences at six, 10 and 15 years to life for third-, second- and first-degree felonies respectively, the woman urged the commission to adopt a Florida law known as Jessica's Law that requires a mandatory sentence of 25 years for even first-time sex offenders.

She said the man who abused her when she was 9 "never saw the inside of a jail cell." He was convicted by a jury, but the sentence was overturned by the state Supreme Court due to a trial issue. On second trial, the man was found not guilty.

She said that even though it wouldn't have made a difference in her own case, Utah victims need the Florida law.

Commission members said the problem with such minimum-mandatory sentences for sex offenses is that sex offenses cover a wide spectrum, with some offenses being more serious than others.

Donald Blanchard, chairman of the state Board of Pardons and Parole, said serious sex offenders already spend a lot of time in prison. What is needed for victims, Blanchard said, is treatment and counseling so they know that what happened was not their fault.

Assistant U.S. District Attorney Karin Fojtik said that already conviction rates for sex abuse cases at trial is 50 percent and many of the convictions are due to plea deals, given the difficult nature of such cases. To impose a minimum mandatory term on sex offenses, she said, would take away any incentive for a suspect to negotiate with prosecutors, wanting instead to take their chances at trial.

Paul Boyden, executive director of the Statewide Association of Prosecutors, recalled the problems created when the state Legislature meddled with minimum mandatory sentences in 1994. The issue came after the Legislature passed strict minimum mandatories for sex offenses in 1983. For a brief time in 1994, the Legislature repealed those mandatories. Some lawmakers said the mandatories were unnecessarily cruel, sparking the ire of many sex-abuse victims and anti-sex-abuse activists. The mandatories were reintroduced soon after, but with some leeway given to the Board of Pardons.