Matt Gaetz helped enact Florida legislation to toughen penalties for sex offenses against children. He said in 2014 that sex offenders who prey on children were "simply wired differently." Gaetz, then 31 years old, served as the chairman of the Florida House of Representatives' Criminal Justice Subcommittee. He cosponsored legislation that increased the mandatory prison time for convicted sexual offenders, calling it some of the most important work his subcommittee would do. Gaetz cosponsored legislation that year that would increase Florida's mandatory minimum sentence for violent sexual offenders to 50 years.

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