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	AG, Speaker Push Minimum Sentences for Child Sex-Abuse By David Kibbe The Standard-Times May 20, 2008 http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080520/NEWS/80520009/-1/NEWS06 BOSTON — House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, joined by Attorney General Martha Coakley and the state's district attorneys, today proposed legislation that would create new mandatory-minimum sentences for certain sex offenses against children. House leaders rejected a proposal by the chamber's Republicans to create a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years to life for the rape of a child with the use of force. The bill offered by Rep. DiMasi and supported by the district attorneys would call for a mandatory-minimum sentence of 20 years for repeat offenders convicted of raping a child with force. It would also create new mandatory-minimums of 15 years for the rape of a child involving a weapon and 10 years for aggravated indecent assault and battery of a child. Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O'Keefe, a Republican, said it would be harder to get convictions if the state had a 25-year mandatory minimums. He said defendants would likely demand a trial, and it would be difficult to get convictions unless young victims could take the stand. It is clear to those of us who prosecute these sensitive cases that an approach of 'one size fits all', though attractive to some, is not in the best interests of children victimized by this crime, said Mr. O'Keefe, president of the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association. This proposed legislation gives us the tools — the options we need to address these delicate cases.
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