The “hoax” perpetrated by Carlee Russell has prompted an Alabama politician to propose making it a felony to stage an abduction.
Republican state Sen. April Weaver said on Monday that Russell’s fictitious kidnapping last month not only ignited shock and terror in the district she represents but also in the entire state and country, according to Yahoo News.
Weaver wants to prefile the legislation before the 2024 regular session, which will start up again in February of that year. Her measure calls for obligatory restitution for the complete cost of the resources used by law enforcement during a fake kidnapping, as well as substantial prison penalties.
“Individuals who concoct and carry out sham kidnappings and lead our law enforcement officers on wild goose chases must be given severe penalties for their deceptive actions,” said Weaver, Yahoo reported.
Russell vanished late on July 13 after she phoned the police and a relative to report spotting a toddler walking down the freeway. She was subsequently charged with two misdemeanors for submitting a false police report and a false statement after she revealed that she had made everything up. The maximum sentence for each crime is one year in prison.
If Russell is found guilty, Alabama’s attorney general, Steve Marshall, has said he will try to recover the money spent on the investigation into her abduction.
Former criminal defense attorney and civil litigator Eric Guster, located in Birmingham, doesn’t think it’s “very smart” to swiftly impose harsher penalties on future false reports like Russell’s.
He questioned the idea that harsher sentences would deter others from fabricating kidnappings in the future, advising lawmakers to avoid such impulsive reactions because this “only happens every five to 10 years.”
Russell Gold, an associate professor of law at the University of Alabama, said he is not shocked that lawmakers are pushing for more severe punishments. However, he worries about the impact of their execution.
“It’s the most classic story of the political economy of criminal law,” Gold told Yahoo. “Politicians feeling the need to respond to a high-profile instance and typically making bad law as a result being overly punitive, overly reactive.”
Democratic Alabama state Rep. Juandalynn Givan and Republican state Rep. Leigh Hulsey announced they are drafting legislation to stiffen the penalty for fabricating an abduction. The two also want to prefile the legislation this month, although they refrained from describing the proposal’s specifics.
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