The Alexander Law Group is committed to making a difference in our community by representing the powerless against the powerful and speaking out when there is injustice.
On June 15, 2016 Richard Alexander wrote in the San Jose Mercury News an editorial explaining how the law on rape sentencing needs to be change
“The interests of justice can never be served when a comatose victim is sexually penetrated. When a crime is heinous, the analysis must stop with the crime. No need to consider the absence of significant criminal history, a high likelihood the defendant would respond favorably to mental health counseling, the youth of the offender or anything else. . . . . amend the statutes for those convicted of these offenses by making state prison mandatory and the crimes ineligible for consideration for a lesser penalty.”
On June 22, 2016 District Attorney Jeff Rosen agreed. Alexander’s proposal has been adopted by the District Attorney and is pending in a new bill in the California Legislature.
The District Attorney is supporting the legislation which would require a mandatory minimum prison sentence for attacking someone who is unconscious.
The proposed legislation was presented to the Legislature by Democratic Assembly Member Evan Low of Campbell and Senator Jerry Hill, Democrat of San Mateo. “This means that a judge can’t look at relative youth, nominal criminal history—characteristics shared by many college students—and give probation and a slap on the wrist to campus rapists,” Rosen said. “Slap on the wrist” were the exact words evaluating the sentencing by the San Jose Mercury News editorial of June 17, 2016.
Assembly Member Low hit the nail on the head in his statement: “Current law actually incentivizes rapists to get their victims intoxicated before assaulting them. While we can’t go back and change what happened, we can make sure it never happens again.”
Amen.
