Governor Blunt calls for death penalty on sexual predators

Governor Matt Blunt speaks at the Capital Plaza Hotel in Jefferson City to call for more serious penalties for sex offenders.

Governor Blunt said "sexual predators in Missouri should be put on notice that if they think they can roam Internet chat rooms or our neighborhoods for Missouri victims without consequence they are wrong."

NEWS RELEASE FROM GOVERNOR BLUNT'S OFFICE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Gov. Blunt Calls for Death Penalty for Violent Sexual Predators says Capital Punishment Should Be Included in State Law

JEFFERSON CITY - Gov. Matt Blunt today announced he is calling for the death penalty to be included in state law as punishment for the worst sexual predators, building on the state's commitment to protecting our children from harm. Gov. Blunt made the announcement at
a Cyber Crimes Summit.

"Sexual predators in Missouri should be put on notice that If they think they can roam Internet chat rooms or our neighborhoods for Missouri victims without consequence, they are wrong," Gov. Blunt said.

"My administration has made our children's safety a priority and that is why I signed one of the strongest Jessica's Laws in the country to protect our children from dangerous sexual predators. I look forward to working with the state legislature next year to strengthen the penalties against those who harm Missouri's most precious resources, our children."

"The scourge of online child exploitation must be stopped in this state," Sen. John Loudon said. "We cannot continue to have our youngest and most vulnerable citizens subjected to the sick and demented perversions of online predators."

Gov. Blunt will call for stronger penalties against sexual predators in Missouri. The governor is calling for legislation that adds the sentence of death to forcible rape and forcible sodomy when the victim is less than 12 years old.

Gov. Blunt's strong leadership ensured Missouri has one of the toughest versions of Jessica's Law in the nation. The legislation mandates a lifetime sentence with a minimum of 30 years for serious sexual crimes committed against young children and calls for certain sex offenders to be monitored their entire lives. The governor also led the successful effort to expand the state's sexual offender registry and add new tools to make it a more powerful resource for parents and law enforcement officials.

Gov. Blunt created a state program to support Multi-jurisdictional Internet Cyber Crimes Task Forces and a related grant program to help protect children from online predators. The budget Blunt signed this year provides a total of $1.25 million for the cyber grant program to help further law enforcement efforts to protect Missouri children from cyber sexual predators. The governor recently announced he will recommend a quarter million dollar increase in funding specifically designated to help protect Missourians from cyber crime in the next state budget.

Earlier this year the governor announced his support for a new initiative to strengthen Missouri's sex offender registry even further. The legislation would require convicted sex offenders to submit their e-mail addresses, Instant Messaging names, and any other electronic identifiers to the sex offender registry. The information would then be available to help parents and law enforcement keep our children safe from sexual predators. Registered sex offenders would only be allowed to use email addresses or other Internet based identifiers that they provide to the sex offender registry.