Washington, DC (September 4, 2020) – The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) is urging the Virginia Legislature not to commute sentences of violent sex offenders, including those who exploit children, which will happen if the Earned Sentence Credit Bill (HB 5148) is passed.
“The Virginia Legislature is about to make it easier for violent sex offenders to be released. Federal and Virginia state laws have already adopted a victim-centered approach, which would be nullified if perpetrators of forcible rape, sex trafficking, and child pornography production can gain a 13-day sentence reduction for every 30 days served—retroactively. That’s exactly what will happen if this bill is passed,” said Patrick A. Trueman, president and CEO of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation.
“The Virginia legislature must exclude all the forcible rape statutes, plus trafficking and child porn production, if they want to pass the Earned Sentence Credit Bill,” Trueman added.
Specifically, NCOSE is requesting that the following offenses be added to exceptions in (iii):
- Pimping, Sex Trafficking and buying children for sex: 18.2-355, 18.2 – 356, 18.2 – 357, 18.2 – 357.1
- Child Pornography Production 18.2-374.1
- Forcible Rape, Forcible Sodomy, Forcible Object Sexual Penetration, and Aggravated Sexual Battery: 18.2 – 61, 18.2 – 67.1, 18.2 – 67.2, and 18.2 – 67.3.
About National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE)
Founded in 1962, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) is the leading national non-partisan organization exposing the links between all forms of sexual exploitation such as child sexual abuse, prostitution, sex trafficking and the public health harms of pornography.