By Chip Brownlee
Alabama Political Reporter
Republican attorney general candidate Alice Martin appeared on a north Alabama radio show Tuesday to discuss the new sex crime laws signed into law earlier this year that strengthen and clarify reporting requirements for sex offenders and create new laws prohibited revenge porn and “sextortion.”
Martin spoke with WEKI 94.7’s the Rachel Hammer Show about the new laws and the need to continue strengthening Alabama’s sex crime statutes.
“This bill is really important and it really puts us more mainstream because 37 states and the District of Columbia already had what some people referred to as cyber civil rights, reputational laws or what some people refer to as revenge porn,” Martin said on the Decatur radio show.
The bill, which was signed by Gov. Kay Ivey in May, prohibits the distribution of intimate, private images without the consent of the sender with the intent to harass or intimate the victim. It also makes illegal sextortion, or the use of threats to push someone to unwanted sexual activity.
On top of the cyber crimes, it also creates a new class of assault called assault with bodily fluids, which was intended to target some inmates in jails and prison who have their body fluids to assault corrections officers. The new law also clarifies the law to more clearly prohibit direction children to engage in sexual contact with other children.
The 86-page bill was sponsored by Sen. Vivian Figures, D-Mobile, and was pushed by the Attorney General’s Office and the Office of Prosecutorial Services during the spring legislative session.
On the show, Martin urged parents to closely monitor their children on social media and mobile devices because of the increasing phenomenon of sexting, or when people send sexual images of themselves to another person.
The new law allows judges to exempt juveniles from sex-offender registration if they were found to have sent pornographic images of themselves, which can be prosecuted as child pornography under existing law.
Even with the changes, Martin said children and teens can still face life-changing consequences for having engaged in that behavior.
“They should recognize that they have some criminal liability,” Martin said. “They could become sexual offenders that are required to be registered with the state of Alabama. It could have long term effects on young people’s lives. The safest practices are to not share intimate images.”
Martin, a former US attorney and chief deputy attorney general under then-Attorney General Luther Strange, resigned from the Attorney General’s Office in March after former Gov. Robert Bentley appointed Steve Marshall as the new attorney general.
Martin announced her candidacy in June to run against Marshall in the Republican primaries.
According to the most recent campaign finance filings, reported yesterday to the Attorney General’s office, Martin has more than $245,300 on hand for her campaign. She raised more than $40,000 in August, according to her report.
Marshall has raised more than $300,000 and has $219,000 on hand.
