Child solicitation penalties bill moves forward

By Marc Kovac | February 13, 2016 at 12:06a.m.

COLUMBUS

Adults pursuing inappropriate liaisons with youngsters would face mandatory prison sentences under legislation passed by the Ohio House this week.

Rep. Tim Schaffer, R-Lancaster, a primary co-sponsor, said the proposed law changes would close “a loophole in state law that is allowing dangerous sexual predators to get away with their crimes on children with a slap on the wrist and no disincentive to commit to crimes again.”

House Bill 405 moved on a vote of 95-0 and heads to the Ohio Senate for further consideration.

The legislation would institute mandatory prison terms of six months or more for first-time offenders who seek sex from children younger than 16.

The bill would cover soliciting in person or using electronic communications devices, with the latter covering individuals who proposition officers posing online as youngsters.

Schaffer said he sponsored legislation enacted in a past general assembly that created a presumption of prison sentences for courts dealing with first-time importuning offenses.

That legislation didn’t go far enough, and some offenders who solicit children avoid incarceration, he said.

“We hoped that this would give the judicial system enough guidance to properly punish these predators who often go on to commit progressively more violent and heinous crimes upon children,” Schaffer said.

Judges still would have discretion on the length of prison terms.

“We’re not locking up these predators for life and throwing away the key,” Schaffer said, “but we’re enacting serious penalties on sex predators, and it should serve as a serious warning. It is time that we show these predators we will not stand by as they hide behind a computer screen and attempt to molest children.”