House tightens child exploitation penalties

The House has unanimously passed legislation that cracks down on criminals who victimize children.

Republican Rep. Jessica Baker’s bill (HB 1545) would increase the points that prosecutors and Judges use in the offense severity ranking chart (OSRC) formula to determine penalties for a variety of heinous crimes involving “possession, promotion, and production of child sexual abuse material.”

The Jacksonville Republican noted when the bill was up on Special Order that, among crimes of this type, “Florida has consistently lower levels of scoring and punishment guidelines as it relates to online child exploitation as compared to other states and the federal government.”

These include prohibiting a person from using a child in a sexual performance, prohibiting a person from promoting a sexual performance by a child, prohibiting a person from possessing child pornography with the intent to promote, and prohibiting a person from possessing or intentionally viewing child pornography.

“By increasing the offense severity ranking of specified child exploitation offenses, the bill may increase the minimum sentence to which a person convicted of such an offense may be sentenced and may increase a term of incarceration required to be imposed as part of that sentence,” a legislative bill analysis notes.

This could lead to more people going to prison for longer stretches for these offenses.

“The bill may have a positive indeterminate impact on jail and prison beds by increasing the OSRC ranking for specified child exploitation offenses, which may result in increased prison admissions or longer terms of incarceration for persons convicted of such offenses,” reads an analysis of the legislation.

A similar Senate bill from GOP Sen. Jonathan Martin has cleared all three of its committees, but is not on the full Senate calendar yet.

Baker, a prosecutor in Northeast Florida, has taken a legislative interest in standing up for the youngest, most vulnerable victims of some of the worst crimes imaginable. In 2023, she sponsored HB 1297, a bill allowing for execution of child rapists without jury unanimity that passed both the House and Senate and was signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.