Senate Bill S1615

                                BILL NUMBER:S1615

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:
2009-10: S.5238


FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.

EFFECTIVE DATE:
90 days after it shall have become a law.