The Maine Legislature is considering a proposal that would increase the possible jail time for a second offense of “visual sexual aggression” aimed at a child.
Under current law, the maximum penalty for exposing oneself to a child in Maine is one year in jail even with a prior offense. Sen. Eloise Vitelli, a Democrat from Arrowsic, is sponsoring a bill that would increase that sentence to five years in prison.
She says she sponsored the proposal at the request of a mother of a 13-year-old victim.
“She explained that since her daughter was over the age of 12, the man would only be charged with a class D misdemeanor. If she was under the age of 12, he could have been charged with a class C felony. She felt this was not a punishment that fit the crime,” Vitelli says, adding that young girls are often emotional damaged by such acts.
The criminal law advisory commission says the existing statute already allows enhanced penalties for the third offense and suggested that lawmakers allow other indecent conduct convictions to count when a judge considers the move to a higher penalty.
“It may make sense to look at the general recidivism statue and see if it should be more broad so that when you have someone with a bunch of indecent conduct convictions who now basically commits an indecent conduct toward a young child, perhaps those convictions should count towards elevating the crime,” says John Pelletier, chairman of the commission.
