Death Penalty for Repeat Child Molesters Passes Senate Judiciary Committee

A bill that has garnered the attention of national media outlets that will gives juries in Oklahoma the option of sentencing repeat child molesters to life without parole or the death penalty received approval of a Senate panel today.

The bill’s author, Senator Jay Paul Gumm, a Democrat from Durant, said he believes the measure will help create a safer Oklahoma, which he says is the government’s greatest obligation to its citizens.

“Those who repeatedly prey on our children in this unspeakable manner should face the most severe penalties allowed under our justice system,” said Gumm, who also serves as Assistant Majority Leader in the Senate.

Senate Bill 1747 would make repeat child molesters subject to the death penalty or life without parole. That, Gumm said, would let the justice system better protect children from those sex offenders who never will be rehabilitated.

“There are too many stories of child molesters who are set free only to shatter the life of another innocent child,” he said. “The case of Jessica Lunsford in Florida is only one example, and I want to make certain her story is never repeated in Oklahoma.”

The 9-year-old Florida girl was kidnapped and murdered last year by a convicted sex offender. That tragedy led to the passage of “Jessica’s Law” in Florida and a number of other states, including Oklahoma. That law requires lifetime global positioning system monitoring of repeat sex offenders.

Gumm’s bill expands on the new Oklahoma law making the most heinous repeat offenders subject to the death penalty.

“If there was ever a crime that was worthy of punishment by death or life without parole, it is certainly this most horrible crime that is committed against an innocent, defenseless child,” said Gumm, himself a new father. “As a parent and lawmaker, I want the strongest laws possible on the books to protect
Oklahoma’s children.”

Gumm said he is committed to making Oklahoma the safest state possible for children. Recently, Gumm added a link to the National Sex Offender Registry to his website, located on the Internet at www.gumm.us, giving Oklahoma parents another tool to keep their children out of harms way.

“We in the Legislature should leave no stone unturned in our efforts to protect the most innocent and precious among us—our children,” Gumm said. “By sending a message to those who repeatedly prey on our children that Oklahoma will not tolerate this sort of horrible crime, we are doing our part to create a safer Oklahoma for our citizens.”