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Ohio House Passes Legislation To Require Mandatory Prison Sentences For Sex Offenders

2/10/2016

 
 

The Ohio House of Representatives has pushed forward legislation that will require a mandatory prison sentence for sex offenders.

House Bill 405 establishes a mandatory prison sentence for soliciting a child under 13 years old to engage in sexual activity.

The bill also stipulates that if an offender is more than 10 years older than a victim, who is 13 to 16-years-old, the offender will receive a mandatory prison sentence.

State Representative Tim Schaffer (R-Lancaster), who joint sponsored the bill, said House Bill 405 will fix a major legal problem in Ohio.

“Unfortunately it is not always an officer on the other side of the computer screen, it is a child,” Schaffer said. “House Bill 405 will fix a loophole in Ohio law that is allowing dangerous sexual predators to get away with their crimes against children with a slap on the wrist and no disincentive to commit these crimes again.”