Most Democrats in the Colorado House are so extreme in their left-wing ideology that they care more about criminals than victims — even young people who haven’t reached double digits yet.
No one can honestly dispute this after a vote late last week in which a large majority of progressives in the House opposed a bill to increase harsher sentences for those convicted of sex crimes against children.
The Senate unanimously passed House Bill 1135 on Saturday after it narrowly passed the House. Eighteen Democrats voted to protect children, while an alarming 27 voted against them after expressing sympathy for predators (excuse us, we mean “victims of society”).
They opposed the bill despite sponsorship from three more balanced Legislative Democrats — Representatives Dafna Michaelson and Shannon Bird, and Senator Rachel Zenzinger.
The bill would make indecent exposure a class 6 misdemeanor if committed knowingly in view of a child under age 15. Colorado’s underage exposure victims average 11 years.
Without the proposed law, which requires the signature of Governor Jared Polis, mature adults who deliberately expose their genitals to children — even to satisfy themselves in front of them — face a felony. It takes a fourth offense for this offense to become a potential felony. That means the state will tolerate harm to three more children, by a known perpetrator, before taking it seriously.
Colorado has indicted at least 90 adults over the past four years for exposure crimes against children. Prosecutors say documented cases are artificially low because children typically feel too embarrassed, scared and/or embarrassed to report them to parents or authorities. Those who muster up the courage to press charges usually see the suspects run away.
Lawmakers heard of a deviant who exposed himself and pleased himself in front of a father’s two young daughters. The police issued a summons and released the suspect, much to the dismay of the father.
Another father said his two daughters, 14 and 16, were in a parking lot after school when a man approached them. The suspect raised his pelvis and bared his genitals, pleasing himself for the girls to see. In typical fashion, because of the soft-on-crime law, the police issued a misdemeanor summons and let him go.
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Bird, a sponsor of the Democratic bill, told of a man who approached a 7-year-old resident of a Walmart in Westminster to expose and satisfy himself. Although the suspect faced minor consequences, the girl needs long-term counseling to try to solve the nightmares that are so terrifying that she sleeps with her parents. The same man was the suspect in another sexual exposure case involving another young girl in the same store that day. Furious is not a strong enough word.
For Republican Brandi Bradley, HB 1135 is personal. She told fellow lawmakers about a man who satisfied himself while holding her hand outside a church when she was 10. Through tears, Bradley shared that she harbored personal shame for 37 years before speaking about the crime.
Law enforcement testified on multiple cases involving adult males masturbating in front of children in parks. Because the law treats this as a petty crime, they said, some perpetrators commit these crimes several times a day until they are convicted four times.
None of the heartbreaking testimonies changed the radical left’s perverse disdain for victims and misplaced compassion for perpetrators.
Democratic Representative Elisabeth Epps filibustered the bill for more than three hours. She said felony penalties are already harsh enough, even if they allow suspects to reoffend within the same day.
Judy Amabile, Boulder’s Democratic representative, said convicts of this “cannot live in most places, you can’t live in some kind of public housing, and you can’t work. These are terrible consequences…” These “serious” repercussions were probably better than decades of fear among the victims who asked nothing.
Democrats expressed their sympathy for the suspects, saying they likely suffer from mental or behavioral disorders. They seem to care little about the lifelong suffering inflicted on innocent children by the criminal’s actions.
By opposing this bill, Democrats challenged decency and supported indecency to show what they learned in Sociology For Dummies 101. They show little concern for children harmed by criminals while holding the No. county rule for violent crime.
Colorado should be the safest state, not the most dangerous. Above all, the law must protect children by removing those who harm them from sidewalks, parks and other public spaces until they succeed in implementing reforms. If signed into law, HB 1135 will take us one small step in the right direction – much to the disappointment of 27 Democrats who get a good feeling coddling perverts.