New laws and stiffer penalties take effect this Friday

CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee (WDEF) – This Friday, 82 new laws in Tennessee will take effect, but with some ofthose laws comes stiffer penalties for certain crimes.

When the new laws take effect, six or more DUI offenses will go from being a Class-E felony to a more serious Class-C. Chattanooga Defense Attorney Jerry Summers said there are pros and cons to the new classification.

“Hopefully, it will get the attention of someone, especially where there have been horrible examples of someone who had multiple DUI’s that caused a serious accident that hurt somebody or killed somebody. It’s also going to create a question of additional financial burden on taxpayers,” Summers said.

According to Summers, a Class-E felony for DUI carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 150 days in jail, but a Class-C felony carries a lot more time behind bars.

“To most judges, if a person comes to court that many times for DUI’s and they failed efforts to cure their drinking or drug problem, judges are going to be pretty tough on them anyway,” Summers said.

Other new laws include stiffer penalties on people convicted of promoting human sex trafficking. Convicted customers and pimps could now be required to register as a sex offender.

“It’s really going to make people pause before they peruse buying commercial sex because most people who are paying for sex give no thought to the person providing sex so willingly, so they are perpetrating sex trafficking,” said Second Life Chattanooga President Jerry Redman.

Other new sex laws include Increased penalties for statutory rape by an authority figure from a Class-C felony to a Class-B felony if the victim is 13 to 18 years of age and if there is more than a 4 year difference. The new law will also force people who are convicted of unlawfully photographing nude people to be placed on the sex offender registry.

Finally, one new law reduces simple possession or casual exchange of marijuana from a felony to a misdemeanor. The question now is whether the conservative state of Tennessee is closer to decriminalizing marijuana.

“Tennessee is not ready to go that far. It will be a while if it does.”