Patterson said the Sentencing Commission is constantly trying to close loopholes, but creating sweeping legislation based on the Lunsford case in Florida is bad policy.

"When you try to do a one-size-fits-all . . . it protects the worst case," Patterson said.

All offenders would get the same punishment even when there are mitigating circumstances, he said.

"In our present system, the Board of Pardons has the ability to sift that out," Patterson said.

Utah previously had a minimum mandatory sentencing structure that included sentences for five, 10 and 15 years, but it became unpopular because more cases went to trial, forcing child victims to testify, Paul Boyden, executive director of the Statewide Association of Prosecutors, told the Deseret Morning News editorial board Wednesday.

Once the state got rid of that sentencing scheme and adopted indeterminate sentencing in which the state Board of Pardons determines the maximum time spent behind bars, more offenders began to go to prison for longer.

Tough talk is good for O'Reilly and his show, he said.

"We have to do tough. We can't just talk tough," Boyden said.

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E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com