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Last updated on Friday, April 27, 2007
(STATEHOUSE) - Indiana would clamp down harder on some sex offenders and ease up on others under a bill legislators are racing to finish by Sunday’s deadline.
An overhaul of laws governing sex offenders includes lifetime parole, and limits time off for good behavior for murder or sex crimes. Most offenders can cut their sentences in half if they stay out of trouble in prison. The new standard for rapists, molesters and murderers would be one day off for every six.
A bill to apply that standard to all prisoners went nowhere, as the department of correction warned it would lead to overcrowding problems. The most drawn-out discussion involves what legislators have dubbed the "Romeo and Juliet" exception. Right now, if two teenagers have sex, there could be criminal charges if one is 18 and the other isn't.
House Judiciary Chairman Linda Lawson (D-Hammond) says that's not realistic. Legislators say they're not condoning teenage sex, but they say criminalizing what representative Ralph Foley (R-Martinsville) calls "back seat of the Chevrolet situations" isn't the intent of molesting and sexual misconduct laws. Lawson notes current law would let a 45-year-old having sex with an 18-year-old go scot-free while allowing charges against an 18-year-old having sex with a 16-year-old. The current draft of the bill would make an age gap of four years or less a defense against criminal charges.
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