Mandatory minimum sentencing.

[Bose]

Originally posted by JollyRoger
Can you imagine a rapist/murderer willing to plea bargain down to the murder charge if the rape charge will be dropped so that he can avoid the mandatory sentence? Many a prosecutor will accept that deal to notch an easy murder conviction under their belt. This would then not give the prisoner any judicially-motivated incentive to seek help for his problems related to the sex offense and, if and when he ever gets out, he would not even be subject to the normal monitoring that released sex offenders are subject to. It just creates more incentive to fight off sex offense charges at any cost and will result in less sex offenders being "judicially recognized" as sex offenders thus undercutting the goals of these well-meaning, but counter-productive strategies in dealing with the issue.

Hear hear...

 

[muppet]

Originally posted by Mojotronica
...a) Some unlucky 18-yr old is going to CONSENSUALLY get his 15-yr old girlfriend pregnant and the state will have no choice but to prosecute him (state law,) and he will end up serving a life sentence.

b) Faced with the possibility of life imprisonment for a sex offense, some predator or predators will murder their victim to minimize the chance of getting caught, instead of just violating them. After all, murder carries a penalty of 20 to life...

Even more scenarios:

What if a jury/judge were convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused 'marginally' committed an offence? Could we end up with juries/judges unwilling to convict 'not so serious' offences or have individuals serve life for 'not so harmful' offences?