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Also by Mary Duke:
- Sex group looks at various myths (November 29, 2007)
- New Lake Street post office serves student community (October 2, 2007)
- UW professor pens new journalism encyclopedia (November 20, 2007)
- Transgender activist shares struggle (November 15, 2007)
Related Stories:
- Legislator plans 4 public safety bills (November 14, 2007)
- Legislative agenda needs 'real issues' (April 17, 2007)
- Some state police oppose concealed-carry (December 5, 2005)
- Bill would allow stricter assault sentences (October 31, 2005)
- Seniors aid in crime prevention (September 21, 2007)
by Mary Duke
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
A state legislator presented four bills Tuesday intended to protect Wisconsin citizens by providing law enforcement additional tools and support to prosecute dangerous perpetrators.
The bills, packaged as the "Citizen Protection and Crime Deterrence Agenda," were presented to law enforcement officials and community leaders by Sen. Dan Kapanke, R-La Crosse.
Kapanke said the components of the agenda are all "crime deterrent bills" and it was a logical decision to introduce them to the community together.
"We had received notice of these gaps in the law and the penalty for such crimes," Kapanke said. "They all came together."
According to a statement from Kapanke's office, two pieces of legislation supported in Kapanke’s agenda would make strangling someone a crime and increase the penalties for using an imitation firearm.
"Law enforcement called our office and talked about the importance of the issue," Kapanke said. "Now, if you commit a crime with a toy gun, it’s the same [penalty] as a real gun."
On Monday, Kapanke added, an incident occurred in which a fake gun looked almost identical to a real gun.
The Strangulation Prevention Act, one of the bills in the Agenda, aims to close an existing loophole in state law, according to Sen. Julie Lassa, D-Stevens Point.
Current law only allows prosecutors to charge perpetrators with a misdemeanor if they are convicted of strangulation, unless the act resulted in death. Lassa, the Senate lead on the bill, said if passed the bill will increase the penalties for strangulation and suffocation.
Lassa added the legislation was proposed as a result of visits by Lassa’s office to the Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
"They were seeing a number of cases around the state where they were unable to fully prosecute perpetrators of this form of violence," Lassa said.
The proposed bill, Lassa added, has bipartisan support, and she said it will save the lives of Wisconsin residents.
"This bill is homicide prevention," Lassa said. "Charging someone with a misdemeanor for strangulation or suffocation that didn’t result in the victim being killed is really a downfall in our justice system."
Kapanke said strangulation occurs more often than people would expect, as "one of the law enforcement officers told us strangulation is involved in three-fifths of domestic abuse [cases]."
The two other proposed bills in Kapanke’s agenda would extend the statute of limitations for prosecuting sex offenders and require additional accidental shooting reporting.
Anonymous (November 14, 2007 @ 3:54pm):
Does no one check these links?
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