Proposed 'Audrie's Law' ignites new debate over juvenile justice sentences
By Enya Kuo
Mosaic staff writer
The California Legislature is working on a proposed sexual assault and cyberbullying law inspired by the case of Saratoga High School student Audrie Pott, who committed suicide in 2012 after she was sexually assaulted at a party and photographs of the assault were distributed to classmates.
"Audrie's Law" would include unconscious and developmentally disabled victims in California's definition of forcible rape, mandate rehabilitative sex offender treatment for juveniles convicted of sexual assault, and allow open courtrooms in such cases.
It would also make cyberbullying, using electronic technology and communication such as cellphones and social media to harass others, a crime with additional sentencing and fines. The bill was amended June 24 in the Assembly Public Safety Committee to replace a mandatory sentence provision and instead require mandatory sex offender treatment.
"I am thankful that the Assembly Public Safety Committee unanimously passed Senate Bill 838 'Audrie's Law' out of committee. ... Audrie's Law modernizes the consequences for those who sexually assault intoxicated, incapacitated, and handicapped victims," Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement. "The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office stands alongside the Pott Family and State Sen. Jim Beall in their efforts to create positive and reasonable changes from the pain of Audrie's tragedy."
Debate remains, however, about whether Audrie's Law would improve California's juvenile justice system. Proponents cite needs to repair flaws in the system and impose harsher consequences for more serious crimes, while opponents question its effectiveness on juveniles. A main point of contention was the legislation's original provision of a minimum two-year out-of-home sentence for convicted juveniles, which would have been the first mandatory minimum sentencing in California's juvenile justice system.
Some students at Saratoga High School said that while the law is imperfect, it would make consequences equal the weight of seriousness for crimes like sexual assault.
Caleb Liu, a former Saratoga High School student, agreed with proponents' view that the original three offenders' sentences of 30 to 45 days were light, but said the law probably would not have made much of a difference in Pott's situation.
According to the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office, Pott passed out drunk at a party and awoke with messages and drawings on her half-naked body. Three teenage boys admitted to the attack and to circulating cellphone pictures of the incident. Pott hanged herself in her Los Altos home on Sept. 12, 2012. Her mother, Sheila Pott, and Beall introduced Audrie's Law in March 2014.
Liu said teenagers are unlikely to stay up-to-date or be knowledgeable about laws and criminal consequences.
"I don't think they [the offenders] would have known of this law. If I didn't go to my school, I probably wouldn't even know this law existed," he said.
Saratoga High School Principal Paul Robinson and three of the student journalists who covered Audrie's case declined to comment.
The San Jose Mercury News reported in June that two of the three convicted juveniles in Audrie's case have re-offended since last year.
"They're not being rehabilitated" in the current system, said Robert Allard, attorney for the Pott family.
Allard added that the proposed law would fix how the justice system treats juvenile offenders by providing them professional care and training about sexual assault and cyberbullying.
Opponents criticized the minimum sentence as unnecessarily punitive. Attorney Eric Schweitzer, of the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, conceded that the current juvenile justice system is stretched to its limit, but argued that Audrie's Law and the extra institutionalization would act as neither a deterrent to juvenile crime nor an effective consequence to convicted offenders. Schweitzer also challenged the idea that Pott was sexually assaulted at the party.
If those crimes were committed, the laws that forbade those illegal activities in the first place "clearly didn't do anything," he said.
"They're going to do it whether you pass the law or not," Schweitzer said. "You can do a lot of good for at-risk children by treating them like children, not like adults."
Raj Jayadev of the Silicon Valley De-Bug, an organization involved in criminal justice advocacy, said in the face of tragedies like Audrie's, he said, lawmakers should consider changes that would work in the long run, "rather than the knee-jerk response of minimum sentencing."
"That's the responsibility of the adult world," Jayadev said.
By Enya Kuo
Mosaic staff writer
The California Legislature is working on a proposed sexual assault and cyberbullying law inspired by the case of Saratoga High School student Audrie Pott, who committed suicide in 2012 after she was sexually assaulted at a party and photographs of the assault were distributed to classmates.
"Audrie's Law" would include unconscious and developmentally disabled victims in California's definition of forcible rape, mandate rehabilitative sex offender treatment for juveniles convicted of sexual assault, and allow open courtrooms in such cases.
It would also make cyberbullying, using electronic technology and communication such as cellphones and social media to harass others, a crime with additional sentencing and fines. The bill was amended June 24 in the Assembly Public Safety Committee to replace a mandatory sentence provision and instead require mandatory sex offender treatment.
"I am thankful that the Assembly Public Safety Committee unanimously passed Senate Bill 838 'Audrie's Law' out of committee. ... Audrie's Law modernizes the consequences for those who sexually assault intoxicated, incapacitated, and handicapped victims," Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement. "The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office stands alongside the Pott Family and State Sen. Jim Beall in their efforts to create positive and reasonable changes from the pain of Audrie's tragedy."
Debate remains, however, about whether Audrie's Law would improve California's juvenile justice system. Proponents cite needs to repair flaws in the system and impose harsher consequences for more serious crimes, while opponents question its effectiveness on juveniles. A main point of contention was the legislation's original provision of a minimum two-year out-of-home sentence for convicted juveniles, which would have been the first mandatory minimum sentencing in California's juvenile justice system.
Some students at Saratoga High School said that while the law is imperfect, it would make consequences equal the weight of seriousness for crimes like sexual assault.
Caleb Liu, a former Saratoga High School student, agreed with proponents' view that the original three offenders' sentences of 30 to 45 days were light, but said the law probably would not have made much of a difference in Pott's situation.
According to the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office, Pott passed out drunk at a party and awoke with messages and drawings on her half-naked body. Three teenage boys admitted to the attack and to circulating cellphone pictures of the incident. Pott hanged herself in her Los Altos home on Sept. 12, 2012. Her mother, Sheila Pott, and Beall introduced Audrie's Law in March 2014.
Liu said teenagers are unlikely to stay up-to-date or be knowledgeable about laws and criminal consequences.
"I don't think they [the offenders] would have known of this law. If I didn't go to my school, I probably wouldn't even know this law existed," he said.
Saratoga High School Principal Paul Robinson and three of the student journalists who covered Audrie's case declined to comment.
The San Jose Mercury News reported in June that two of the three convicted juveniles in Audrie's case have re-offended since last year.
"They're not being rehabilitated" in the current system, said Robert Allard, attorney for the Pott family.
Allard added that the proposed law would fix how the justice system treats juvenile offenders by providing them professional care and training about sexual assault and cyberbullying.
Opponents criticized the minimum sentence as unnecessarily punitive. Attorney Eric Schweitzer, of the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, conceded that the current juvenile justice system is stretched to its limit, but argued that Audrie's Law and the extra institutionalization would act as neither a deterrent to juvenile crime nor an effective consequence to convicted offenders. Schweitzer also challenged the idea that Pott was sexually assaulted at the party.
If those crimes were committed, the laws that forbade those illegal activities in the first place "clearly didn't do anything," he said.
"They're going to do it whether you pass the law or not," Schweitzer said. "You can do a lot of good for at-risk children by treating them like children, not like adults."
Raj Jayadev of the Silicon Valley De-Bug, an organization involved in criminal justice advocacy, said in the face of tragedies like Audrie's, he said, lawmakers should consider changes that would work in the long run, "rather than the knee-jerk response of minimum sentencing."
"That's the responsibility of the adult world," Jayadev said.