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    Anita Chabria: Support pedophiles or protect children? A false question roils California Legislature

    by Anita Chabria, Los Angeles Times Jul 15, 2023 5 minutes
    A view of the Capitol Building in Sacramento, California.

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Do you support protecting pedophiles or protecting kids?

    Seems like a bit of a no-brainer, but that's the level of debate that the California Legislature stooped to this week as it brawled over a bill that would increase criminal penalties for the sex trafficking of minors.

    By the logic that dominated the Capitol in recent days, I would have fallen in the camp that is allegedly protecting pedophiles.

    Now, in case you need to hear it, I do not support pedophiles or sex traffickers.

    But I also do not support new laws with old problems, and I don't support smashing discussion under the boot of conservative oversimplification.

    The bill in question is Senate Bill 14, by Republican Shannon Grove, who represents a swath of the Central Valley that stretches roughly from Fresno to Bakersfield and into the desert.

    The bill of a minor a serious felony, a California designation that makes it eligible for our "three strikes" law — meaning 25 years to life when you hit that third qualifying crime. Sounds more than reasonable for selling a child for sex. It sounds good.

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