Patrick Phelan, Greece NY police chief, has a serious case of denial

NY is set to remove the first of the lowest tiered registrants off the state registry, and Patrick Phelan disagrees with that. Get this -- he actually believes being on the registry is completely harmless and we are free. Really?

http://www.rochesterfirst.com/news/local-news/some-level-one-sex-offenders-may-soon-roll-off-the-states-registry

Greece Police Chief Patrick Phelan said the registry helps track offenders. By removing them, it allows them to go undetected. "It isn't conducive to the safety of the residents of N.Y. to remove sex offenders from the registry. It's a good law. It doesn't behoove anybody except sex offenders to take them off the registry," Phelan said.

Some say being registered for 20 years is long enough. Phelan disagrees. "I don't see where we're harming them in any way by simply keeping them on the registry. They're still free citizens in the USA. They can come and go where ever they want, whenever they want. We're just monitoring them," Phelan said.

Donald Trump likens Ben Carson to a "child molester." Donald, YOU'RE FIRED!

I find it hard to believe Donald Trump has been taken seriously by anyone, but at the moment, he's one of the frontrunners for the Republican nomination. I've never voted for a Republican, but I'm sure even a few Republican voters are completely embarrassed by this clown.

So in a recent speech, Donald Trump claimed rival candidate Ban Carson has a "pathological temper" then says can't be cured like "child molesters can't be cured." Trump, you're fired!

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3dn7o7_donald-trump-compares-ben-carson-to-a-child-molester-11-12-2015_news

"If you’re pathological, there’s no cure for that, folks. There’s no cure for that… If you’re a child molester, a sick puppy, you’re a child molester, there’s no cure for that. There’s only one cure, we don’t want to talk about that cure. That’s the ultimate cure. Well, there’s death, and there’s the other thing. But if you’re a child molester, there’s no cure, they can’t stop you. Pathological, there’s no cure."

MI Senator Rick Jones is giving registrants one last middle finger on his way out of office

Prick Jones can go jump in a lake.

Mishitgan state senator Prick Jones has reached his term limit so he is on his way out, but that hasn't stopped him from trying to stick it to registered citizens. Just months after the MI Supreme Court struck down

Here is a link to the bill:

http://www.legislature.mi.gov/
(S(izwy2ivecfo4vhv2ax3u3kbb))/
mileg.aspx?page=getObject&objectname=2015-SB-0581

Here is the dumb quote from straight from the horse's mouth ass mouth ass's mouth.

http://www.senatorrickjones.com/senate-panel-oks-jones-bill-to-keep-sex-offenders-away-from-schools/

Senate panel OKs Jones bill to keep sex offenders away from schools
Posted on November 5, 2015
Sen. Rick Jones

LANSING, Mich. — The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved legislation sponsored by Sen. Rick Jones to restore a law prohibiting sex offenders from working or living within 1,000 feet of a school.

“A federal judge recently ruled that parts of Michigan’s sex offender registration law were too vague. As a result, sex offenders of all kinds can once again hang around our schoolyards,” said Jones, R-Grand Ledge. “Whether the convicted sex offender is a flasher or a pedophile, they have no business hanging out at the local school playground and leering at children.

“It is important to clarify the law so that we are protecting our children and still meeting the federal guidelines.”

Senate Bill 581 would prohibit a registered sex offender in Michigan from working or living within a student safety zone, which is defined as the school property and the area that lies 1,000 feet or less from the school property line. It also clarifies the law concerning how close an offender can be to a school while walking or driving.

The bill includes exemptions for an offender transporting his child to or from school, attending an event sanctioned by his child’s school and meeting with a school employee regarding his child enrolled at that school.

SB 581 now heads to the full Senate for consideration.

Keyon Lee of Buffalo NY gives us a pile of buffalo chips in the latest stupid comment of the day

This is Keyon Lee. When he isn't busy selling trashy ghetto clothes at his shop "City Swagg Fashions" taking pics of women with their butts hanging out, he is moonlighting at his other job as a "victim advocate." In a recent article, he's not claiming to be part of an organization called the "Buffalo Center for Prevention and Treatment of Child Sex Abuse." Interestingly enough, there is no mention of this organization anywhere until now. It reminded me of the "Committee of Concerned Parents" from the novel-turned-movie "Little Children," manned by only one person, a renegade ex-cop with a grudge. 

This clown obviously holds a grudge but in his desperation to be relevant at anything at all, he figures the only way to be relevant is to promote something stupid. Thus, he is trying to push the city of Buffalo to publish the info of all 600 people on the local registry and distribute them to everyone in the city. That is a bad idea in itself, but what this moron says in the Channel 4 article makes his statement Shiitake-worthy:

http://wivb.com/2015/10/19/local-group-pushes-for-hard-copy-sex-offender-registry/

The problem, according to Keyon Lee, of the Buffalo Center for Prevention and Treatment of Child Sex Abuse, is that not enough of his neighbors know.

“It’s chilling. It’s chilling because you have 600 registered pedophiles in the city of Buffalo, and those are just the registered ones. We’re not talking about the ones that we don’t know about,” Lee told News 4.

Lee, who is helping to lead the charge to change at City Hall, says there’s a disconnect between the information, which can be found online at the New York State Sex Offender Registry, and the people who need it.

“A lot of people are not computer savvy. We have a lot of foreigners in our city, who may not be able to read and write correct English. We need the registration list to be sent out. The disconnect is that they’re not providing this to us,” he said.

First of all, if you say "registered pedophile," you are definitely worthy of ridicule. Second, when Keyon Lee says a lot of folks cannot read or write correct English, he is obviously referring to himself. Obviously he did not get the memo that most folks on the registry are not "pedophiles." 

Maybe he should spend less time spewing bullshiitake about the registry and more time addressing the sexually provocative ads on his own website:

Buffalo's newest victim industry advocate's "other" job

NJ Assemblyman Robert Auth uses Predator Panic to attempt to repeal a law. Well, that's a first...

Something smells in New Jersey. Oh wait, New Jersey always smells. Well, something smells worse than usual in NJ.

I see Predator Panic used to pass bad laws, but how often do you see Predator Panic REPEAL laws?

Well, if NJ Assemblyman Robert Auth has his way, a law putting red decals on drivers ages 16-21 will be removed from car tags. His justification? This is the Shiitake Awards, so take a wild guess what he is using to repeal the decal law.

http://nj1015.com/a-move-to-do-away-with-nj-learners-permit-decals/

Are the red decals young drivers have to put on their license plates an invitation to potential sex offenders? Are they advertising that there’s probably a teenager in the car?
Some people think so, while others say they’re a valuable tool for law enforcement.

Kyleigh’s Law has been controversial since it was first enacted in the Garden State in 2009. There is now another move to repeal the decal requirement and hold parents and guardians responsible if their kids don’t obey the Graduated Drivers License law.

“These decals identify youthful drivers to the public and while most of the public is rational and sane there are people who have nefarious thoughts for youthful drivers, youthful people in general and have sinister thoughts with regard to interacting with them,” said Assemblyman Robert Auth (R-Cresskill).

Legislation (A-822), introduced by Auth, would repeal the requirement that the holders of GDLs display a decal on the car they are driving and require parents and guardians of graduated driver licensees under the age of 21 to enforce restrictions that apply to these young drivers.

“There’s no empirical evidence that any of the problems they seek to correct in this legislation are real. I see no point in entertaining legislation that accomplishes nothing,” said Assembly Transportation Committee chairman John Wisniewski (D-Sayreville), who sponsored Kyleigh’s Law.

Under New Jersey’s GDL program, drivers under the age of 21 are allowed to have one passenger allowed with the exception of a parent, cannot use of cell phones even if they’re hands-free devices and they have a nighttime curfew of 11 p.m. Under Kyleigh’s Law, they must also display a red decal so that law enforcement can easily identify them.

Under Auth’s bill, a young potential driver would not get a permit or license unless their parent or guardian pledges, in writing, to accept responsibility for enforcing the GDL laws and conditions. The measure would increase the penalties for GDL drivers who violate the restrictions and also impose penalties on the parents or guardians of these drivers.

“How will anyone figure out whether or not kids did not abide by the law? Will the parents turn them in so that the parents themselves could then be penalized,” Wisniewski asked.

The GDL law is valuable and important, Auth said and he pointed that that he has no problem with the statute itself. The decals were his only concern.

On Aug. 6, 2012, the New Jersey Supreme Court unanimously upheld Kyleigh’s Law in a ruling that said the statute did not make young drivers vulnerable to pedophiles which meant it did not run afoul of the federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act.

“The young drivers subject to (Kyleigh’s Law) have no reasonable expectation of privacy in their age group because a driver’s age group can generally be determined by his or her physical appearance,” the court wrote.

According to Paul Loriquet, communications director for the Attorney General, Highway Traffic Safety is aware of only one reported incident in which a teen driver was stopped by someone who was not a police officer. The incident, Loriquet said, happened within the first year that the law went into effect.

“It involved an individual impersonating a police officer who stopped a vehicle with a teenage driver. No details were provided,” he said. “Apparently the teenage driver drove away without any further incident.”

NH State Rep Dick(head) Marston derails relief plan against aggressive collection of registry fees

This guy's name is "Dick," but his last name should be "Head" after derailing a bill that would have abolished the $50 annual fee the state forces registered persons to pay. Of course, it wasn't enough to vote against the bill-- Dickhead Marston claimed if this bill passed, the registry would eliminate the registry. If that is true, then I see no reason NOT to pass this bill. The money saved from eliminating the registry could increase his salary, which means better glasses and some Hair Club for Men.

http://patch.com/new-hampshire/concord-nh/dornin-pay-50-year-forever-or-maybe-not

Dornin: Pay $50 a Year Forever ... Or Maybe Not

HB 587 would have abolished the annual fee former sex offenders pay to be listed in the state's online database.

By Chris Dornin, Founder, CCJR

Lawmakers killed a good crime bill this year.

Citizens for Criminal Justice Reform wrote and recruited sponsors for HB 587, which would have abolished the $50 annual “fee” the state charges citizens to register as former sexual offenders, often for the rest of their lives. The charge buys them the privilege of being publicly shamed on the State Police website. Failure to pay can get them arrested and theoretically sent to prison.

Our bill died on the House floor based in part on misinformation by state Rep. Dick Marston, R-Manchester, who posted the following blurb in the House calendar before the vote:

“There is a provision in the law that would currently allow the fee to be waived if the offender was unable to afford it. The (House Criminal Justice) committee determined that repealing the fee would have resulted in virtually eliminating the registry, which would be a disservice to the citizens of NH.”

Marston misled lawmakers, perhaps intentionally. Yes, eliminating the fee would cost the state the $93,400 a year it squeezes from registrants to pay for their scarlet letter. But the registry costs state and local government far more than that. The State Police testified they employ seven people full time to keep the registry up to date. The Manchester Police say they assign two full-time officers to track their 440 registrants on the State Police website. If that is a best practice, the rest of New Hampshire needs another eight or 10 officers full time to handle the remaining 2100 registrants. The total cost easily exceeds ten times what the state collects from registrants.

We would submit the state has no right to make registrants pay anything for being pilloried on the Department of Safety’s website. They have already paid for their crimes. Registration is not voluntary and being on the registry is not a privilege. Why should registered citizens have to pay for it? Good evidence suggests sex offender registries do nothing to protect the public anyway, despite what lawmakers say.

Former offenders have every legal and moral right to challenge the fee under state law. Sex offender registration already has crippling effects on registered citizens’ financial viability. Once a potential employer finds out a person is a registered sex offender, the door of opportunity closes. We know of many registrants who are unemployed or under employed because of their registrant status. But, if they don’t pay the state $50 every year, they can be charged with yet another crime.

As far as CCJR knows, no one has actually been arrested for not paying the registry fee, though some have been threatened with arrest if they didn’t cough up the money. The point of the fee is to raise money for the State, of course, so it’s not in the state’s interest to arrest non-payers. Putting just a few registrants in prison for failing to pay a $50 charge would soon use up all the money the State hopes to collect.

As Rep. Marston suggested, the law is not entirely heartless. It provides a way for the indigent to be excused from paying. Registered citizens can ask for a hearing before the Commissioner of Safety to decide if they are unable to pay. As you can imagine, these hearings are like having a friendly talk with the fictional Don Corleone, who famously said, “Let me make you an offer you can’t refuse.”

States normally determine indigence based strictly upon income and assets. But the Department of Safety wants to know how impoverished registrants spend their limited resources. We know of registrants who have been asked if they smoke. If so, they should smoke less and pay the fee. The same goes for cell phones and cars. The threat is always the same, pay up or get arrested.

We believe this is no way to run a free state. So we’re encouraging all registrants making less than 125% of federal poverty levels to apply for a waiver of the fee. We have posted on our website clear instructions on how to do so and, if denied, how to appeal that decision into the Superior Courts. Just follow the link ccjrnh.org/challenge_the_registry_fee.

Our hope is that many registrants will exercise their rights this way. But, even if just a few end up appealing to the Courts, the State will soon spend all the money it hopes to collect through this extortionist scheme, and somebody in power will finally figure out the registry fee is not a good idea.

“If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.” ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956

Chris Dornin is the founder of Citizens for Criminal Justice Reform.

Mass. State Sen. Bruce Tarr should be tarred and feathered for this stupid quote

Mass. Sen. Bruce Tarr, apparently overestimating the size of his brain

Thanks to the public registry, the majority of registered citizens are unemployed. Even if they have jobs, it is unlikely many have jobs that pay a livable wage. Thus, the idea of registry fees is stupid. But Bruce Tarr, Mass. State Senator, thinks if you can't pay your fees, you are on the slippery slope to re-offense. What in TARRnation is this clown thinking?

http://www.necn.com/news/new-england/Investigation-Finds-Sex-Offenders-Are-Not-Paying-Mass-Registration-Fee-307757351.html

When convicted sex offenders register each year in Massachusetts, they are required to pay an annual $75 registration fee, but necn has found hundreds are failing to pay that fee and the state is doing little about it.
"It's completely unacceptable and it's a sign of a system that is dysfunctional and needs to change," began Sen. Bruce Tarr.

Since 2012, the Sex Offender Registry Board has collected $1.1 million in fees from men and women convicted of sex crimes, but the board has left even more money on the table- failing to collect another $1.2 million in fees.

"If we were in private industry and you were basically saying, 'hey, 40 percent of what you think your revenue should be is not being collected,' management would say, 'this isn't working right,'" Rep. Bradley Jones added.

The state already waives fees for sex offenders deemed too poor to pay. According to state data, last year the board waived the $75 fee for about a third of the more than 11,000 offenders in the system. That money is not counted in this 1.2 million in uncollected fees.

Paul Craney heads the non-profit, non-partisan Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance. He points out that the money collected goes back into SORB's annual $3.8 million dollar budget- and ultimately taxpayers are left holding the bag.

"Massachusetts is continually ranked as one of the most expensive states to do business in, to live in and here we are passing over a group of people who owe money," Craney said.

Under the current system, if an offender fails to pay the registration fee, the board sends them a letter warning them that they are breaking the law. If the offender still doesn't pay, SORB sends another letter, but the agency claims the statute doesn't give them the power to do anything else.

"What are they gonna think about- 'I don't have to pay the fee? Maybe I can be lax on the registration.' We cannot afford to go down that slippery slope with folks that are being required to register for a reason," Sen. Tarr continued.

Tarr, the Senate Minority leader, and Senator Bradley Jones, House Minority Leader, filed similar budget amendments to put more teeth in the law. Jones' amendment would require the board to notify the departments of Revenue and Transitional Assistance if an offender fails to pay along with the Registry of Motor Vehicles.

"Just like if you have unpaid parking tickets or you have tolls or things like that, you're not going to get your car registered until you resolve these issues," Rep. Jones added.

Jones' amendment passed in the House. Tarr's failed in the Senate, but it can still make it onto the Governor's desk through conference committee. Asked if he would support or veto the measure, Governor Baker declined to weigh in.

"We'll take a look at the legislation and make our decisions going forward from there," Baker said.

Published at 10:44 PM EDT on Jun 16, 2015

Denial 101 starring Michigan State Senator Rick Jones

Rick Jones has outdone himself this time. Who cares about the facts when you have an idiot with 31 years as a career politician to tell you what to think.

http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2015/05/16/sex-offender-registries-fire-michigan/27453025/

I agree. MI shelter pets deserve better than to be
held by Rick Jones. 

But some legislators and law enforcement officials say registries are useful because they help keep track of potentially dangerous people. The supporters also dismiss the research, saying it's impossible to determine who might re-offend.

They caution against narrowing the definition in Michigan's law of who should be listed and are against adopting a new recommendation by some that defendants should be judged case by case by who is most likely to re-offend.

"The problem I have is should we go back and say only pedophiles have to register?" said state Sen. Rick Jones, a former sheriff who helped draft some of Michigan's sex offender registry laws. "Do we want violent sex offenders on the school grounds? Do we want public masturbators on the school grounds? I'm not prepared to change the way the list operates."

Michigan legislators are reviewing Cleland's ruling and considering reforming the laws to make them compliant. Some, though, think tougher laws are in order. And they dismiss critics who say the registries cause unnecessary misery to those who have already served their sentences.

"I say if you do the horrible rape, or if you have sex with a child, you deserve the consequences," said state Sen. Rick Jones, who helped draft some of Michigan's sex offender registry laws.

Jones questions the research that shows sex offenders are much less likely to re-offend and that the majority of those on the registry pose no threat.

"I have 31 years of experience in police work, and as a retired sheriff in Eaton County I formed some very strong opinions that the science is still not clear for pedophiles. I believe it is society's duty to keep pedophiles from children so that the temptation isn't there. So I say you need to stay a thousand feet from schools."

Jones also discounts the idea that offenders should be treated differently, depending on their likelihood of re-offending. Minnesota, for instance, places offenders on its registry based on extensive risk assessment and psychological testing, not the crimes they committed.

You can watch Senator Rick Jones make a complete ass of himself by clicking the link below:

http://www.wxyz.com/news/interview-are-there-problems-with-michigans-sex-offender-registry#Judge%20strikes%20down%20parts%20of%20sex%20offender%20law

Nevada GOP lawmaker proudly proclaims "sexual predators" should get a "bullet to the head"

Well, the story really isn't about "sexual predators," per se, but this crazy gun nut proposes that "hot little girls" on campus need to pack heat and shoot people in the head to stop the Rape Apocalypse.

Republican Nevada Assemblywoman Michele Fiore is trying to push a bill allowing guns to be carried onto college campuses under the guise of preventing on-campus sexual assaults.

Fiore, said in a telephone interview with the New York Times:

“If these young, hot little girls on campus have a firearm, I wonder how many men will want to assault them. The sexual assaults that are occurring would go down once these sexual predators get a bullet in their head.”

Now, it might just be me, but she reminds me of a certain vigilante gun-nut who lives in South Florida, only Fiore isn't as ugly. But she is just as stupid.

Florida State Rep. Frank Artiles uses sex offender panic to push anti-transsexual bathroom bill

Rep. Frank wants you to show him your penis. 

I know this whole transsexual issue has hit the news with that teen transsexual who killed herself here in Ohio where I live, and admittedly I haven't been keeping up with all these letter designations for sexuality (if we keep coming up with new gender identities we'll have to borrow letters from other languages). It is not my place to judge them and as far as I'm concerned, we're all deserving of equal rights. This is what I do know. If you use Predator Panic as the basis of passing any law, no matter who you are targeting, well, I will give you a new identity -- Shiitake Award Nominee. 

You know, this Artiles fellow has some very interesting thoughts. maybe we should be watching this guy very closely:

http://www.care2.com/causes/floridas-transphobic-show-your-papers-to-pee-bill-is-bad-for-everyone.html

Florida’s Transphobic ‘Show Your Papers to Pee’ Bill is Bad for Everyone

by Steve Williams

February 13, 2015

One Florida Republican is making it his sworn duty to overturn local civil rights ordinances and stop trans people using the public restrooms that accord with their gender identity.

Florida State Rep. Frank Artiles (R) recently introduced H.B. 538, which to quote the bill summary, would:

Requires that use of single-sex facilities be restricted to persons of sex for which facility is designated; prohibits knowingly & willfully entering single-sex public facility designated for or restricted to persons of other biological sex; provides exemptions; provides private cause of action against violators; provides for preemption.

So in effect, if a trans person uses a public bathroom that accords with their gender identity and not their birth sex, they are liable under the law to a $1,000 fine. The legislation would also open up the trans person in question to a civil suit, and would make the owner of those public accommodations similarly liable.

Artiles claims the bill was inspired by what he perceives to be a “massive loophole” created by local trans rights ordinances like the one recently enacted by Miami-Dade County that simply and narrowly allows people to use the restroom that comports with their consistent gender expression. It is, of course, the old “sexual predators could prey on women and children” that Artiles clings to when he says, no, he is not anti-trans or trying to discriminate, but simply looking out for the public interest.

In a post on his own website, he says in part:

The goal of HB 583 is not to discriminate against any individual, but to ensure the public’s safety in Florida.  My main concern is that criminals, sexual predators, and sex offenders will hide behind the law in order to commit a crime due to the over broad, vague, and subjective language passed by some counties across the State.

[...]

“The reason for this bill is due to the Local county commission ordinance that allows MEN (who do not fall under any of the LGBT’s definitions) to enter a WOMENs bathroom, locker room and dressing room. It is disturbing for a woman to walk out of a gym shower and have a man staring at her. It is a matter of privacy/public safety and not intended to discriminate against transgender or transsexuals. However, criminals, sexual deviants, pedophiles and voyeurs will take advantage of the loop hole the local ordinance has created giving them protection under the law.”

One would imagine that if Rep. Artiles is so concerned about this problem, he must have several accounts of such abuses at hand, most notably because Gainseville has had these protections since 2008. Artiles has yet to point to a single incident anywhere where trans protections have directly allowed an abuse to take place — and it’s no wonder, because they are so infrequent that law enforcement officials tell us that they aren’t a concern at all.

In fact, experts from across 15 states have looked at statistics and confirmed for Media Matters that this just isn’t a problem and is unlikely to ever be a problem. They also point out that these ordinances do not change what is already law: people who are victims of physical and sexual assaults in public restrooms are protected and could bring criminal proceedings, and these ordinances do not change that fact.

But let’s not kid ourselves that this is just Rep. Artiles just being overly concerned about public welfare. Artiles displayed his ignorance of trans identity and the vague hint of transphobia when he told the Miami Herald (h/t Thinkprogress): ”A man such as myself can walk into the bathroom at LA Fitness while women are taking showers, changing, and simply walk in there. Someone can say, ‘What are you doing there?’ Under the ordinance, I don’t have to respond. It’s subjective. If I feel like a woman that day, I can be allowed to be in that locker room. I don’t know about you, but I find that disturbing.”

The legislation also has another disturbing aspect. Another look at the bill’s text and we see it contains language that wouldn’t just preclude trans people from using the public amenities that align with who they are, it implicitly sets a standard for what we consider male and female enough:

“Sex” means a person’s biological sex, either male or female, at birth. For purposes of this paragraph, the term “male” means a person born as a biological male and the term “female” means a person born as a biological female.

Currently, Florida state does allow for gender change recognition albeit through a laborious process. The proposed law wouldn’t directly undercut that, but the concern is that, with its “biological male” and “biological female” designations, it segregates trans people and makes them other — they can amend their IDs but try and pee in a bathroom that matches their gender expression? Then they’re criminals. Not only that, but it also raises the question whether gender variant people (women who may have a more masculine presentation or men who have a feminine style) may also be subject to discrimination and a “show your papers to pee” rule.

What seems to be the biggest shame in all of this, though, is that Florida Republicans are feigning concern over imagined scenarios of sexual assaults in public restrooms, when they are the ones trying to jam their heads under the stall doors to dictate who can and can’t use a particular restroom.

If you are accused of a Sex Trafficking offense, Utah Republican Senator Paul Ray wants to kill you.

I can almost imagine Paul Ray promoting this idea with "Achmed the Dead Terrorist." Actually, Rep. Ray has a lot in common with terrorists, considering his obsession with the Death Penalty. I think he should be fired, preferably by squad as well.

http://www.standard.net/Government/2015/02/03/Davis-County-lawmaker-puts-sex-traffickers-on-notice.html

Utah lawmaker wants death penalty for sex traffickers
TUESDAY , FEBRUARY 03, 2015 - 1:36 PM
By MICHAEL A. KRUSE
Capital West News

SALT LAKE CITY — A Davis County Republican wants to give convicted child sex traffickers the ultimate punishment – the death penalty.

Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clinton, is pushing to make child sex trafficking a capital offense. He says he accompanied the Salt Lake City vice squad on patrol a few years ago. He’s realized how big an issue child trafficking is in Utah. He said he's been working on bills to target prostitution and trafficking for years.

“I got so fed up with what I've seen,” Ray said. “It's time to take the ultimate jump and say if you traffic a kid for sex, we're going to kill you.”

Marina Lowe, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah, said the group opposes capital punishment in all forms. Lowe cited some of the current botched lethal injections as ways that America is finding out that the death penalty is not effective.

“At the end of the day it's our position that the state shouldn't be in the business of killing its citizens,” Lowe said. She added that Ray's proposal is unconstitutional.

In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled child rape is not punishable by death, striking down a Louisiana law as unconstitutional because the punishment was “cruel and unusual.”

Ray acknowledged that his proposed bill could be challenged in the court. He said he was willing to take a chance, despite the bills uncertain future. Ray said he would love to fight for this law at a federal level.

“I'm going turn the tables on them, and say 'prove to me why you can execute for treason and I can't execute for a crime that in my world is ten times worse than treason,'” Ray said. Ray acknowledged that he would have to add a constitutional note to the bill. This would let legislators know that the bill may be legally challenged in the courts’ system.

Parker Douglas, chief of staff of the Utah Attorney General’s office, said it’s the office’s policy to defend laws that are legally passed in Utah, whether they personally agree with them or not.

Ed Smart, the director of prevention and rehabilitation of Operation Underground Railroad, said he needed more time to decide whether he supported the bill. Operation Underground Railroad is an organization that works with victims of the sex trade. Smart said child sex trafficking is prevalent in Utah but it's hard to pin down the numbers because of its secretive nature.

“I have not met one of those who have been prostituted or trafficked who have chose to be there,” Smart said.

Smart, kidnap victim Elizabeth Smart’s father, said he would like for Utah to follow after Sweden and start cracking down on those who visit prostitutes. Smart said these individuals now get a slap on the wrist.

He said the key is to cut down on the demand for these services, noting Sweden cut their prostitution on the street in half. Smart said there needs to be a greater deterrent to participating.