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	DiMasi, Prosecutors Back New Version of 'Jessica's Law' Associated Press, carried in Boston Herald May 20, 2008 http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/politics/view/2008_05_20_DiMasi__prosecutors_back_new_version_of__Jessica_s_ Law_/srvc=home&position=recent House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi and the state's top law enforcement officials unveiled a bill today they say would strengthen child abuse laws. The bill creates three new criminal charges that carry mandatory minimum sentences. It also increases penalties for using a weapon in a crime, and for using a position of authority to assault a child. Attorney General Martha Coakley and the state's 11 district attorneys support the bill, which is modeled after Florida's Jessica's Law. That law was passed after a repeat sex offender raped and murdered Jessica Lunsford in February 2005. The Massachusetts version doesn't include Florida's 25-year minimum mandatory sentence. Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O'Keefe said the state bill's range of penalties will allow prosecutors to put more people in prison, by giving prosecutors more tools. "Child sexual assault cases are wrenching and difficult to prove," O'Keefe said. "It is clear to those of us who prosecute these sensitive cases that an approach of 'one size fits all,' though attractive to some, is not in the best interests of children victimized by this crime."
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