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- A proposed bill in Utah seeks to introduce harsher penalties for extreme cases of child torture, creating a first-degree felony charge with a minimum 10-year sentence, potentially extending to life in prison.
- This initiative is partly inspired by the case of Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt, who were convicted of aggravated child abuse.
SALT LAKE CITY — A new bill is proposing harsher punishments for child abusers by creating a new, enhanced charge to prosecute extreme cases of child torture.
"Nobody that works on a child torture case can walk away from that without being impacted in some way," said Washington County Attorney Eric Clarke.
Clarke successfully prosecuted the case against Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrant for the abuse they inflicted on Franke's children. The women are serving a sentence of four to 30 years in prison, but Clarke felt more needed to be done.
"I was concerned that the punishment for child torture, I don't feel it was proportionate to the severity of the crime," Clarke said.
Clarke is pushing for a bill, "Child Abuse and Torture Amendments," that would introduce child torture, a new charge, as a first-degree felony.
The bill is sponsored by Sen. Don Ipson, R-St. George. It will be heard Wednesday by the Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Interim Committee.
"We're saying, well, you should have child abuse, aggravated child abuse and child torture," Clarke said. "Child torture, we're going to say this, is its own crime. We're identifying that as something that is not OK in our society, and we're going to have a serious penalty with it to deter that action."
The child torture crime would carry a punishment of at least 10 years in prison, which could extend to a life sentence. By contrast, aggravated child abuse, of which Franke and Hildebrandt were convicted, carries a punishment of one to 15 years in prison as a second-degree felony.
"We're really concerned because we're seeing an increase in our state of child torture," Clarke said. "When I say child torture, we're seeing an increase in cases where people are isolating children and then systematically abusing them physically."
The bill would not work retroactively, so cases like the Franke and Hildebrand case would remain unchanged. But if it was voted into law, Clarke said it could have an influence.
"It sends a clear signal to the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole of how long the Legislature intends for these people to be in prison, and the board can use that in how they handle people who are currently in prison," Clarke said.
In a statement request, the Board of Pardons and Parole said the 10-year minimum punishment would only apply to individuals who are charged and convicted of the new "child torture" crime if the bill were to pass.
"The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole strives to render just decisions that are consistent with federal and state constitutions and statutes. The board monitors changes in the law during each legislative session and incorporates those changes into its decision making. In addition, the board's decision-making practices consider public safety, victim impact, 10 criminogenic and evidence-based domains, and an offender's need for rehabilitation prior to reentry to the community," the statement said.
Clarke is optimistic the bill will gain traction with lawmakers.
"When you talk about a child torture case, my experience is that anybody who has worked at one of those cases is excited at what we're doing here because they all want to feel like they can do something more than they were able to do with the laws that are on the books today," Clarke said.
