Updated 02/05/2008 10:10 PM
Sex offender charged in toddler's rape
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UNION COUNTY, N.C. -- A man from Unionville in Union County is accused of raping a 3-year-old girl. Police say Douglas Parsons is a convicted sex offender; they’ve charged him with several charges, including first-degree rape of a child.
The news of this latest offense has advocates for "Jessica’s Law" in North Carolina outraged. Jessica's Law is named after Jessica Lundsford. She was a little girl originally from Gaston County who later moved to Florida where she was raped and killed.
The law sentences all felony sex offenders to 25 years to life in prison without the possibility of parole. It also forces current sex offenders to where GPS-tracking bracelets when they’re let out of jail.
Douglas Parsons
Thirty-three states have adopted some form of the law, and nine other states made its laws stricter after Jessica's Law was enacted. North Carolina is one of only eight states in the entire country that has done neither.
Janet Morrison is the president of the Child Protection Coalition of North Carolina and part of a group who wants to see Jessica's Law passed in the state. She's been working since 2005 to get the law passed.
"When he got out of prison, he'd be wearing a GPS bracelet for life; this guy should have had a warning on his head, not only on his ankle."
Right now, Jessica's Law is on the floor of the Senate awaiting a vote in May. It passed in the North Carolina House in July of last year. Morrison says she's trying to rally as many citizens from across the state to speak up in support of the law.
Morrison says by not having the law we are inviting sex offenders into the state.
"They're going to come to North Carolina; we're putting out a welcome mat," she said. Morrison has collected thousands of signatures on a petition in support of the law but she says it's not enough.
"I need the citizens of North Carolina to be outraged, get after these people and say we need this law."
To sign the petition, and learn more about Jessica's Law, there's several information Web sites listed below:
• jessicaslawnownc.org
• jmlfoundation.org