From LowellSun.com:

“This legislation provides prosecutors with a more finely tuned way to hold sex offenders accountable and ultimately to protect children,” Coakley said.

While the bill expands the definition of aggravated or forced rape to include the use of weapons, alcohol or drugs or by a person in a position of authority such as a family member, coach or teacher, child advocates said the legislation gives too much latitude to prosecutors.

The original Florida law, adopted in various forms by more than 40 states, established a blanket 25-year minimum sentence for all forms of child rape. The Massachusetts law would not set any such minimum for a rape that did not involve weapons or the commission of another crime such as kidnapping, but would give prosecutors a number of options to go after offenders.

Wendy Murphy, a former child-abuse and sex-crime prosecutor, said the bill gives prosecutors far too much latitude.

“The vast majority of child rapes are not going to be affected by this new proposal and it’s unfortunate that it’s being presented as some new get-tough measure because it isn’t,” said Murphy, a child-victim rights advocate and professor at the New England School of Law.

Coakley and Cape Cod District Attorney Michael O’Keefe said the variety of options will afford prosecutors leverage in many cases to reach a plea that avoids putting a child on the stand to testify.

“I was a prosecutor,” Murphy said. “It’s time we stop saying I can offer a discount to save a child the trauma of testifying. Perpetrators are far more afraid of a child taking the stand than the child is of testifying.”

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