Senate Bill S1989

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S1989

 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 OF BILL :
This bill would strengthen New York State's criminal laws that relate
to pedophiles.

 SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS :
Section One of this bill would amend Section 130.65 of the penal law,
as amended by Chapter I 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 older 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
subdivisions 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, or
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 or older. 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 is subjected to
the same penalty as a person who steals a pack of gum from a
convenience store. That is just not acceptable, and this measure seeks
to correct that inequity. The states of Connecticut, New Jersey, Rhode
Island and Indiana provide that sexual contact with an individual who
is eleven or twelve years old is a felony.

 PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :
2008: A.8110 - Held in the Assembly Codes Cmte.

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :
To be determined.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
The first of November next succeeding the date on which it shall have
become a law.