‘Audrie’s law’ goes to the public, Legislature

As expected, a bill inspired by the incident that led to the suicide of Audrie Pott in 2012 will be heading to the state Legislature soon.

During a press conference held at the Saratoga Public Library on March 7, state Sen. Jim Beall, district attorney Jeffrey Rosen and Audrie's mother, Sheila Pott, spelled out details of the bill, titled SB 838.

SB 838 would charge juveniles who sexually assault defenseless victims in adult court. Charging juveniles as adults would remove the concealment of the offenders' identities and lead to them being registered as sex offenders.

"Under current law, if a group of young men hold down a young woman and rape her, they can be charged in adult court, with adult charges," Rosen said. "But if those same young men instead ply the young woman with alcohol and then rape her, they must be tried in juvenile court."

Although the current law addresses sharing photos of child pornography, Audrie’s Law would emphasize the crime of using social media (words, pictures, video) to “humiliate or bully” victims of sexual assault.

For example, under current law, if photos of sexual assault are disseminated, the matter is non serious and would be treated in juvenile court.  Rosen explained that “these things must change.”

Rosen added that an amendment to the current law is needed because underage perpetrators are being protected by  the juvenile court’s “secrecy and anonymity.”

“The time has come to pull these predatory perpetrators out of the shadows and make the juvenile justice system live up to its promise to protect their victims,” Rosen said.

Rosen, Beall and the Pott family hope that this bill will prevent cases like what happened to Audrie from happening again.  

“Audrie’s gone,” Rosen said. “We are here today to see if we can make some sense out of her senseless death.”

Beall said the bill is modest in proposal and has a very good chance of passing. If it receives a two-thirds majority vote in the state Legislature, and the governor signs it, the bill will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2015.

“I believe Audrie’s bill is well crafted and will deter future cyberbullying, while providing justice for victims and their families,” Beall said.