BOSTON -- House Speaker Sal DiMasi and Attorney General Martha Coakley announced new legislation yesterday that would introduce mandatory minimum sentencing in Massachusetts for those convicted of child rape.

The law, modeled after Jessica's Law in Florida, would give prosecutors a stronger set of tools to send child rapists to prison by creating a new set of criminal charges carrying sentences of 10 to 15 years for a first offense, according to DiMasi and Coakley.

Some victims-rights advocates, however, assailed the legislation as a watered-down political document that falls far short of what is needed in Massachusetts to protect children from rape.

"As far as I'm concerned, it's a total distraction from the real problem," said Laurie Myers, of Chelmsford, the founder of the advocacy group Community Voices. "This fails to do anything to protect kids. I think it's a shame."

The Democratic leaders announced the legislation at the Statehouse flanked by a handful of the state's 11 district attorneys who all support the bill. The compromise bill comes three years after legislation stiffening penalties for child rapists was first introduced in the Legislature.

The bill would establish mandatory minimum sentences of 15 years for those convicted of aggravated rape by force of a child under 16, 10 years for aggravated statutory rape of child under 16, and 10 years for aggravated indecent assault and battery on a child under 14.

Repeat offenders could face a minimum of 20 years for certain offenses.

"This legislation provides prosecutors with a more finely tuned way to hold sex offenders accountable and ultimately to protect children," Coakley said.

While the bill expands the definition of aggravated or forced rape to include the use of weapons, alcohol or drugs or by a person in a position of authority such as a family member, coach or teacher, child advocates said the legislation gives too much latitude to prosecutors.

The original Florida law, adopted in various forms by more than 40 states, established a blanket 25-year minimum sentence for all forms of child rape. The Massachusetts law would not set any such minimum for a rape that did not involve weapons or the commission of another crime such as kidnapping, but would give prosecutors a number of options to go after offenders.

Wendy Murphy, a former child-abuse and sex-crime prosecutor, said the bill gives prosecutors far too much latitude.

"The vast majority of child rapes are not going to be affected by this new proposal and it's unfortunate that it's being presented as some new get-tough measure because it isn't," said Murphy, a child-victim rights advocate and professor at the New England School of Law.

Coakley and Cape Cod District Attorney Michael O'Keefe said the variety of options will afford prosecutors leverage in many cases to reach a plea that avoids putting a child on the stand to testify.

"I was a prosecutor," Murphy said. "It's time we stop saying I can offer a discount to save a child the trauma of testifying. Perpetrators are far more afraid of a child taking the stand than the child is of testifying."

Myers has been pushing for months for action on this bill, but expressed frustration and disappointment yesterday at the outcome.

"Shame on them. It gives them the flexibility to avoid putting pedophiles in prison, is what it does," Myers said. "They had a draft in front of them and they could have used it. Instead, they made it about politics and not keeping kids safe."

She said she is happy with one provision giving administrative authority to subpoena Internet records similar to telephone records.

Mandatory minimum-sentencing laws have been criticized by judges who resist being told how to handle cases and by members of the legal-defense community. Advocates, however, say minimum sentences send a strong message to criminals and reduce what often results in wide disparity of sentencing for similar crimes.

Florida passed Jessica's Law in 2005, just three months after Jessica Lunsford, 9, was killed by a convicted sex offender.

Similar laws passed throughout the country have come to be known as Jessica's Law, though they vary widely in language.

DiMasi said he expects the Massachusetts version to pass the House within the next two to three weeks.

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