In Vermont, Republican Gov. Jim Douglas signed the measure, but said he was disappointed that both chambers rejected a "civil commitment" provision to keep untreated sex offenders and other dangerous criminals now in prison in detention even after their sentences had been served. Read more

Under the compromise, which passed 6-0 yesterday in a House-Senate conference committee, judges would be required to hand down 10-year sentences for first-time offenders convicted of aggravated sexual assault — unless the judges put on written record their reasons for a lower sentence. Read more

Approaching the finish line of the legislative session in Vermont, a conference committee of members of the House and Senate yesterday reached deals on several issues — including more ways to notify communities about registered offenders in those towns — but remained deadlocked over how best to punish offenders convicted of aggravated sexual assault. Read more

"I'm not a high-risk offender. I'm not going to re-offend," said Pellerin. "I just want to be left alone." Read more

What last night's gathering lacked in the number of residents concerned in general about sexual predators, the neighbors of one of the town's newest residents, 56-year-old registered sex offender Thomas Pellerin, made up in intensity of concern for themselves and their children. Read more

Sex offenders rarely lose their lives when the public learns of their crimes. But they do often lose the chance to find a place to live.

Much more common than the murders earlier this week of two Maine sex offenders is the reality of ostracism, said Scott Matson, a researcher with the federally funded Center for Sex Offender Management in Maryland. Read more

So yesterday morning, Colbeth took his two dark garbage bags of clothes, his broken briefcase holding court documents and a carton of Rizla cigarette papers, and his bottle of Mountain Dew, and he got a ride to the Vermont State Police barracks in Royalton. Read more

A day after residents learned a high-risk, untreated sex offender about to be released from prison was moving to town, the police chief said yesterday he doesn't believe the man is living there.

Thomas Pellerin, 56, who was convicted of sexually assaulting in 1989 a teenage girl who worked at his Bellows Falls, Vt., video store, had notified the state offender registry that he would be living in Weathersfield when he left Southeast State Correctional Facility yesterday after serving a nearly 15-year prison term. Read more

A convicted sex offender who refused treatment during a 13-year incarceration has moved into a trailer in Randolph Center, alarming some town residents, who said they would be more willing to accept his presence if he had sought help in jail.

Leon Colbeth, 33, was released March 28 after serving time for sexually assaulting a minor under 16, aggravated assault and lewdness. His victims included a 15-year-old boy and a "mentally handicapped" youth, police said. Read more

The New Hampshire Senate yesterday approved a major sex offender bill that would impose a potential 25-year mandatory minimum sentence for child rapists, a measure sought by Gov. John Lynch but opposed by the House.

"I believe we do, in fact, need to send a message that if you perpetrate a crime against a child, you deserve to be locked up for a long, long time," Senate Democratic Leader Sylvia Larsen of Concord said after the 21-3 vote. Read more

When she started in 2004 to write a state plan for preventing sexual violence, University of Vermont Professor Susan E. Roche was laboring, if not in obscurity, then at least under the radar.

Yesterday, Roche watched Gov. Jim Douglas kick off the unveiling of the five-year plan, which she assembled for the Vermont Network Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, in a hotel ballroom right across State Street from the capitol, where the Vermont Senate the day before had unanimously supported overhauling the way the state deals with sex offenders. Read more

For almost 15 years, untreated sex offender Thomas Pellerin has lived in prison, but as of today he may be living in Weathersfield.

Police Chief Dick Brown said he knew Pellerin might move into town, since the 56-year-old felon has family in the area. But it wasn’t until yesterday morning, when Brown was contacted by the Vermont Criminal Information Center, part of the Department of Public Safety, that the possibility seemed very likely. Read more

The Democrat-controlled Vermont Senate yesterday unanimously approved a major overhaul of how the state deals with sex offenders, including a mandatory sentence of at least 10 years for aggravated sexual assault.

"There is no way out. You're going to do 10 years. The message is clear," said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Sears, D-Bennington. "People are tired of this behavior." Read more

Gov. John Lynch and Attorney General Kelly Ayotte yesterday urged the Senate Judiciary Committee to reinstate potential mandatory minimum sentences for child rapists in a major sex-offender bill working its way through the legislature.

The New Hampshire House last month overwhelmingly rejected a proposal that would allow prosecutors to seek a mandatory minimum of 25 years for adults convicted of aggravated felonious sexual assault of a child under 13, or for abuse of a child that results in permanent injury. Read more

The Senate Judiciary Committee's continuing debate about whether to impose mandatory minimum sentences for sex crimes against children took on political overtones yesterday as Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie, a law professor who now works with Fox News' Bill O'Reilly and a Vermont radio talk-show host, testified in favor of the measure.

Dubie, a Republican up for reelection this year, presented "10 action steps to protect Vermont's children," including passage of a Vermont version of "Jessica's Law," legislation including mandatory minimum sentences named for a 9-year-old girl who was raped and murdered last year in Florida. Read more

After hearing from prosecutors and victim advocates opposed to mandatory minimum sentences for sex offenders, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday heatedly debated whether to include them in a pending bill.

Three lawmakers, all Democrats, said imposing mandatory minimum sentences would ignore testimony from experts who said the sentences would lessen prosecutors' ability to enter into plea bargains with defendants and would force more victims, especially vulnerable children, to testify, possibly leading to more acquittals. Read more

The New Hampshire House yesterday overwhelmingly approved legislation to toughen supervision and penalties for sexual predators while soundly defeating efforts to impose potential 25-year mandatory minimum sentences on first-time child rapists.

"I think what they are going by is the Constitution. ... The punishment should fit the crime. If the crime is a particularly heinous crime — and I think all child offenses are heinous crimes, but some are worse than others — the punishment should not be the same for both," state Rep. David Welch, a Kingston Republican and chairman of the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, said after the 307-17 vote to approve the bill. Read more

Vermont courts are stumbling in the dark when sentencing sex offenders, a judge and a state's attorney said yesterday morning at a hearing of the state Senate Judiciary Committee.

The state's chief administrative judge, Amy Davenport, told the committee that judges lack key information about treatment, such as which kind of program will be available to prisoners, and how long it could take to complete. Read more

The House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee yesterday approved a sweeping bill that toughens sanctions against sexual offenders, but rejected potential 25-year mandatory minimum sentences for adult predators sought by Gov. John Lynch and Attorney General Kelly Ayotte.

"We wanted to be tough, but we wanted to be fair, as well," said state Rep. Patricia Dowling, a Derry Republican who chaired a subcommittee that amended a 28-point "Child Protection Act" backed by Lynch and Ayotte. Read more

Vermont state senators yesterday sparred over the issue of imposing mandatory minimum sentences for sex offenders, with advocates saying society wants more uniform prison terms and opponents saying they would discourage plea bargains and further traumatize victims.

The issue came to a head after state Sen. George Coppenrath, a West Barnet Republican who represents several Upper Valley towns in Orange County, presented the Senate Judiciary Committee with a petition signed by more than 2,000 Vermonters. The petition called for passage in Vermont of a "Jessica's Law," named for a Florida girl allegedly raped and murdered by a sex offender last year, including 25-year mandatory minimum sentences for child molesters. Read more