Protect our children: Locals protest the lack of harsher sentences for sex crimes
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IDAHO FALLS – Protestors looking to change the sentencing for sex crimes in Idaho gathered in front of the Bonneville County Courthouse on Friday afternoon.
Aspen Lindoff, Nicole Rafferty, Bentley Hill and Tim Sopalski organized the “Take a Stand, Let Your Voice Be Heard” protest to inform the community about the need for a mandatory minimum sentence for these crimes. Between 25 and 30 locals attended the rally.
Sopalski told EastIdahoNews.com he is working on a bill to be introduced into the Legislature for the state to have a minimum of five years in prison for a person convicted of a sex crime.
A flyer handed out at the event shows rape being the only sex crime in Idaho law to have a mandatory minimum sentence of one year.
Looking at when a person is indicted on federal charges for sex crimes, Sopalski said those potential punishments do carry a minimum where a person who is convicted may get five years or up to 20 years.
Another concern for protestors is they believe that current plea agreements do not favor the victims, but rather the person convicted. Sopalski said recently this was the case with Cristian Tinoco’s sentencing. The suspect pleaded guilty to 20 counts of child porn but was only sentenced to between three and 13 years.
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“He will be in jail for three years, and then he’ll have the opportunity to parole,” Sopalski said. “There’s some concern about the aspect that he had 20 counts against him, yet we pleaded for (13 years)?”
His goal is to create education materials about why attorneys decide to offer plea agreement and how those decisions are made, helping the community better understand the legal procedure.
What spurred the need to create a protest, Hill told EastIdahoNews.com, was that since January, she has seen the number of sex crimes being reported increasing. She counted over 30 cases being reported since the beginning of the year.
“That’s insane… it needs to be changed, and offenders feel welcome as they’re not scared to offend,” Hill said.
The other organizers shared the same message of needing these harsher punishments.
Miranda Armenta, an attendee of the protest, told EastIdahoNews.com that a rehabilitation component with a mandatory minimum is needed.
“At the end of the day, they’re not thinking how they should and we should be there to help them and correct them, and, you know, reintegrate them into society with better views,” Armenta said.
However, Armenta said another possibility is to replace current judges who may have a more stern outlook on sentencing in these crimes. She said, “Maybe voting them out and replacing them with people that care more about this cause.”
Lindoff said that those who are interested in learning ways to protect their children should take a look at the sex offender registry and see who’s living nearby through NSOPW.gov.
Hill also started a petition on Change.org, which over 1,981 people have signed, asking for a mandatory minimum to be introduced.