100 signatures reached
To: Trent Ashby
Reform Texas Child Enticement Penal Code
Texas has not updated Penal Code Title 6, Section 25.04 (Enticing a Child) since 1999. Revision is needed as the grouping of a possible sexual solicitation offense in a code chiefly addressing custody offenses can result in dangerous sexual offenders receiving misdemeanor charges, excluding them from the Texas Sex Offender Registration Program requirements and reducing penalties. While Sec. 25.04 (b) does provide for additional felony qualification, the necessity of this being determined by trial provides a means of evasion by plea bargain. Texas needs to order enticing a child for sexual conduct under an entirely separate code of Solicitation of a Child with Sexual Intent. Attempted sexual predation on a child should never be a misdemeanor, or subject to plea bargain diminishment, and should always be subject to inclusion in the requirements of the Texas Sex Offenders Program. While the Texas Penal Code addresses sexual conduct with a child, the citizens of Texas expect their legislators to be proactive in protecting their children from predators who have or would attempt to entice a child into sexual contact.
Why is this important?
While the case of Audrii Cunningham, an 11 year old child in Polk County, is still developing, it serves to spotlight the glaring oversight of grouping the enticement of a child for sexual purposes under a code specifically intended for custody offenses, as well as the dangers of allowing sexual predators the opportunity to plea down to a misdemeanor and avoid the Texas Sex Offender Registration Program. A community aware that a child is in close contact with a person previously guilty of sexual predation is better able to act to protect that child. All of the children of Texas would benefit from the added protection of a separate code specifically addressing the solicitation of a child for sexual contact and preventing that act from being reduced to misdemeanor status.