From the special session:
Predators convicted of sexual penetration of a child under the age of nine will now spend the remainder of their life in prison. Gov. Bill Richardson signed senate Bill 528 into law on Friday, which makes the offense an aggravated first-degree felony and mandates the life sentence.
"One of my top priorities for this session was to make sure that our worst sexual predators are subject to the toughest criminal sanctions," Richardson said in a news release. "So I'm especially pleased to sign SB528 into law mandating life imprisonment for aggravated sexual penetration on a child under the age of nine. An offense this heinous deserves a life behind bars."
...Other bills signed Friday protect children from communication by sexual predators directly or through an electronic device. There are also new background checks required on volunteers in the juvenile justice system and a mandate that requires helmets to protect children from traumatic brain injury
These sort of policy changes in New Mexico have three-fold implications in the campaign:
1 - It makes immediate and lasting change for the citizens of New Mexico and child safety
2 - It doesn't fool around (life sentence is nothing to sneeze at) with sexual predators who are increasingly emboldened by modern technology and
3- This give Richardson credibility when the inevitable debate arises in our primaries about protecting children and families.
