Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, said Monday he wants the penalties for rape, object rape and sodomy of a child to increase to 25 years to life. Currently, the penalty is 15 years to life in prison.

Wimmer, who says he has support from the Utah Sentencing Commission and Utah Council on Victims of Crimes, said he plans to introduce HB 256 when the Legislature convenes next week. He pitched the idea to the Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice on Monday, which passed a motion of support for the proposal.

The bill, modeled after Florida's Jessica Lunsford Act, also would make attempted sexual assaults on a child first-degree felonies punishable by 15 years to life in prison.

In Utah, anyone 14 or under is considered a child.

"This has to do with the basic principle of protecting kids and harsher penalties for whose who violate the most innocent among us," said Wimmer, a former police officer.

Wimmer said he wanted last year to pursue harsher penalties for people who commit sex crimes on kids, but felt suggested proposals compromised the state's existing sentencing structure.

Under Utah's indeterminate sentencing, judges order prison terms in a range of years - such as one to 15 years for a second-degree felony.

Once the perpetrator goes to prison, the Board of Pardons and Parole decides when the term ends.

Wimmer's new proposal would allow the judicial system some flexibility in sentencing child sex offenders - something for which other Jessica's Laws across the country have come under fire, said Paul Boyden, executive director of Utah's Statewide Association of Prosecutors.

At the Monday meeting, Boyden said long mandatory sentences deter offenders from pleading guilty. To avoid a trial, prosecutors in other states have offered plea bargains in which the punishment didn't fit the crime, he added.

Wimmer's proposal could sidestep those concerns and also decrease the number of children who have to testify against their abusers in court, Boyden said.

The proposal concerns some, however, including Department of Corrections officials who worry about increasing costs tied to sex offenders spending more time in prison. Sen. Gregory Bell, R-Fruit Heights, said in Monday's commission meeting he worries about what kind of message is conveyed with a 25 years to life guideline for sex offenders.

Murder carries a 15 years to life sentence, and Bell said he's concerned about the disparity between penalties for murder and those set in Wimmer's proposal.

Wimmer says his proposal would make Utah the "gold standard" for handling child sex abuse cases and answer demands from the public to get tough on sex offenders.

mrogers@sltrib.com

* What is Jessica's Law? Florida lawmakers implemented the Jessica Lunsford Act in 2005, which created a mandatory sentence of 25 years to life for people convicted of certain sex crimes against children. The law was named after a 9-year-old girl who was abducted, raped and murdered by a neighbor and repeat sex offender.

* What is Utah's history with mandatory terms for child sex crimes? Utah tried mandatory terms for child sex crimes from 1983 to 1996, before repealing the law and returning sentencing discretion to judges and the state's five-member parole board.

* How is House Bill 256 - a version of Jessica's Law that Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, plans to pitch when the Legislature convenes next week - different from Florida's legislation? Wimmer and supporters say their bill offers more flexibility to the justice system than standard Jessica's Laws adopted in other states, which some critics say lead to suspects gaining plea deals that don't fit their crimes. The legislation allows a judge to determine a lesser term if it "best serves justice" and doesn't force child victims to testify in court, Wimmer said.