Jessica's Law

Jessica's Law
Florida State Legislature
Full name	An act relating to sexual predators and sexual offenders; providing a popular name; amending s. 775.21, F.S.; revising criteria for sexual predator designation, extending period for petition to remove sexual predator designation; creating s. 775.235, F.S.; prohibiting the harboring of a sexual predator or sexual offender; providing criminal penalties; amending s. 921.141, F.S.; creating an aggravating circumstance pertaining to sexual predators for purposes of imposing the death penalty; amending s. 947.1405, F.S.; requiring sexual offenders and sexual predators on conditional release to be placed on electronic monitoring; creating s. 947.1406, F.S.; providing requirements for electronic monitoring of sexual offenders and sexual predators on conditional release; amending s. 948.30, F.S.; requiring sexual offenders and sexual predators on community control or probation to be placed on electronic monitoring; amending s. 948.11, F.S.; providing requirements for electronic monitoring of sexual offenders and sexual predators on community control or probation; providing an effective date.
Introduced	April 1, 2005
House voted	April 22, 2005 (115-0)
Senate voted	April 21, 2005 (40-0)
Signed into law	May 2, 2005
Sponsor(s)	Criminal Justice Committee
Governor	Jeb Bush
Code	Florida Statutes
Bill	HB 1887
Website	Florida House website
Status: Current legislation

This article is part of a series on the
Sex offender registries in the United States
Legislation Federal Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act Megan's Law Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act International Megan's Law to Prevent Demand for Child Sex Trafficking State Jessica's Law California Proposition 83 (2006) Other PROTECT Act of 2003 Sexually violent predator laws
Constitutionality Constitutionality of sex offender registries in the United States Supreme Court decisions Smith v. Doe Connecticut Department of Public Safety v. Doe
Effectiveness Effectiveness of sex offender registration policies in the United States
Social issues Homelessness Julia Tuttle Causeway sex offender colony Miracle Village Pervert Park Controversial designations as offender Genarlow Wilson Janet Allison Kevin Gillson
Reform activism Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws National Association for Rational Sexual Offense Laws Women Against Registry - W.A.R. Movement to reform sex offender laws in the United States
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Jessica's Law is the informal name given to a 2005 Florida law, as well as laws in several other states, designed to protect potential victims and reduce a sexual offender's ability to re-offend which includes a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years in prison and lifetime electronic monitoring when the victim is less than 12 years old. A version of Jessica's Law, known as the Jessica Lunsford Act, was introduced at the federal level in 2005 but was never enacted into law by Congress.

The name is also used by the media to designate all legislation and potential legislation in other states modeled after the Florida law. Forty-two states have introduced such legislation since Florida's law was passed.

The law is named after Jessica Lunsford, a young Florida girl who was kidnapped, raped, and murdered in February 2005 by John Couey, a previously convicted sex offender. Public outrage over this case spurred Florida officials to introduce this legislation. Among the key provisions of the law was classifying lewd or lascivious molestation on a person under the age of 12 as a life felony, and a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years in prison^[1] and lifetime electronic monitoring^[2] of persons 18 and older convicted of lewd or lascivious molestation against a victim less than 12 years old. Lewd or lascivious molestation is defined as "A person who intentionally touches in a lewd or lascivious manner the breasts, genitals, genital area, or buttocks, or the clothing covering them,... or forces or entices a person to so touch the perpetrator." The statute also requires that if an offender is sentenced to a term of years, he or she must be given lifetime probation following the imprisonment. In Florida, another charge, capital sexual battery is defined as: A person 18 years of age or older who commits sexual battery upon, or in an attempt to commit sexual battery injures the sexual organs of, a person less than 12 years of age commits a capital felony. Sexual battery is defined as oral, anal, or vaginal penetration by, or union with, the sexual organ of another or the anal or vaginal penetration of another by any other object, except for bonafide medical purposes. The charge of capital sexual battery carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.^[3]