Legislation

Though we appreciated the intentions behind this legislation, which would have eliminated the statute of limitations for filing civil suits alleging sexual abuse, we opposed the bill.

We opposed this bill that purported to prohibit the production and possession of so-called child pornography.

We opposed this bill which would have created a crime of “menacing,” which would make criminal a wide variety of hyperbolic comments regularly expressed by people in the heat of the moment.

We strongly supported legislation which would have required that juveniles sentenced to long prison sentences as adults be reviewed by the parole board no later than fifteen years into their sentence.

Because there is no question that rehabilitation is substantially enhanced by making contact easier between incarcerated individuals and their loved ones, we strongly supported this bill which would have provided free communication services to people at the ACI.

We opposed a number of bills seeking to increase the penalties for a variety of driving offenses, noting that the approach of sending people to prison for longer periods of time and imposing steeper fines on offenders would not deter reckless driving nor assist in the rehabilitation of offenders.

We supported legislation which would have generally prohibited the detention of a juvenile under the age of 14 at the Rhode Island Training School.

This bill would prohibit the questioning of a juvenile suspected of criminal activity without a parent or legal guardian present.

We opposed legislation which would have authorized a civil action against parents who demonstrate “willful or wanton disregard” in their exercise of “supervision and control” over a child who has committed the offense of cyberstalking or cyberharassment.