Relates to sexual abuse of a person under thirteen

1 Co-sponsor

• Jeffrey D. Klein

Title of bill

An act to amend the penal law, in relation to sexual abuse of a person under the age of thirteen

Purpose or general idea

This bill would strengthen New York State's criminal laws that relate to pedophiles by rendering a person guilty of sexual abuse in the first degree when that person is 18 years old or older and subjects a victim less than 13 years old to sexual contact.

Section One of this bill would amend Section 130.65 of the penal law, as amended by Chapter 1 of the Laws of 2000, by providing that a person is guilty of sexual abuse in the first degree when he or she is eighteen years old or more and subjects another person to sexual contact who is less that thirteen years old. Section Two of this bill would provide for the effective date.

Justification

In 2001, the New York State Legislature enacted the Sexual Assault Reform Act. Among the changes made to the Penal Law at that time were amendments to Rape in the First Degree, Section 130.35(4) and Criminal Sexual Act (formerly Sodomy) in the First Degree, Section 130.50(4).

These new subdivisions made it a class B violent felony when a perpetrator over the age of eighteen had sexual intercourse, anal, or oral contact with a victim under the age of thirteen. No similar change in age was made at that time to the crime of Sexual Abuse in the First Degree, Section 130.65. That crime is therefore a class D violent felony only when the victim is under the age of eleven. Consequently, if a child who is eleven or twelve years old is subjected to sexual contact by an individual who is eighteen or older it is merely a class A misdemeanor.

This legislation would add a subdivision four to Sexual Abuse in the First Degree, making it a class D violent felony offense, for a child under thirteen to be subjected to sexual contact by a person who is eighteen years of age or more. Besides protecting these vulnerable victims, this legislation would bring the Sexual Abuse in the First Degree statute in line with Rape and Criminal Sexual Act in the First Degree. As the law stands in New York State at this moment, a person who puts their hand down the pants of an eleven or twelve year old for purposes of sexual gratification is subjected to the same penalty as a person who steals a pack of gum from a convenience store.

This bill, if enacted, would add New York to the states of Connecticut, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Indiana to provide that sexual contact with an individual who is eleven or twelve years old is a felony.

Prior legislative history

2008: A.8110 - Assembly Codes Cmte.

Fiscal implications

To be determined.

Effective date

90 days after it shall have become a law.