2016 -- S 2535 | |
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LC004754 | |
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND | |
IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY | |
JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2016 | |
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A N A C T | |
RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- SEXUAL ASSAULT | |
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Introduced By: Senators Nesselbush, Lynch Prata, Crowley, Coyne, and Goodwin | |
Date Introduced: February 25, 2016 | |
Referred To: Senate Judiciary | |
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: | |
1 | SECTION 1. Sections 11-37-1, 11-37-2 and 11-37-4 of the General Laws in Chapter 11- |
2 | 37 entitled "Sexual Assault" are hereby amended to read as follows: |
3 | 11-37-1. Definitions. -- The following words and phrases, when used in this chapter, |
4 | have the following meanings: |
5 | (1) "Accused" means a person accused of a sexual assault. |
6 | (2) "Force or coercion" means when the accused does any of the following: |
7 | (i) Uses or threatens to use a weapon, or any article used or fashioned in a manner to lead |
8 | the victim to reasonably believe it to be a weapon. |
9 | (ii) Overcomes the victim through the application of physical force or physical violence. |
10 | (iii) Coerces the victim to submit by threatening to use force or violence on the victim |
11 | and the victim reasonably believes that the accused has the present ability to execute these threats. |
12 | (iv) Coerces the victim to submit by threatening to at some time in the future murder, |
13 | inflict serious bodily injury upon or kidnap the victim or any other person and the victim |
14 | reasonably believes that the accused has the ability to execute this threat. |
15 | (3) "Intimate parts" means the genital or anal areas, groin, inner thigh, or buttock of any |
16 | person or the breast of a female. |
17 | (4) "Mentally disabled" means a person who has a mental impairment which renders that |
18 | person incapable of appraising the nature of the act. |
19 | (5) "Mentally incapacitated" means a person who is rendered temporarily incapable of |
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1 | appraising or controlling his or her conduct due to the influence of a narcotic, anesthetic, or other |
2 | substance administered to that person without his or her consent, or who is mentally unable to |
3 | communicate unwillingness to engage in the act. |
4 | (6) "Physically helpless" means a person who is unconscious, asleep, or for any other |
5 | reason is physically unable to communicate unwillingness to an act. |
6 | (7) "Position of authority" means and includes, but is not limited to, any person who is a |
7 | parent or acting in the place of a parent and charged with any of a parent's rights, duties or |
8 | responsibilities to a person nineteen (19) years of age or under, or a person who is charged with |
9 | any duty or responsibility for the health, welfare, or supervision of a person nineteen (19) years of |
10 | age or under, either independently or through another, no matter how brief, at the time of the act. |
11 | (7)(8) "Sexual contact" means the intentional touching of the victim's or accused's |
12 | intimate parts, clothed or unclothed, if that intentional touching can be reasonably construed as |
13 | intended by the accused to be for the purpose of sexual arousal, gratification, or assault. |
14 | (8)(9) "Sexual penetration" means sexual intercourse, cunnilingus, fellatio, and anal |
15 | intercourse, or any other intrusion, however slight, by any part of a person's body or by any object |
16 | into the genital or anal openings of another person's body, or the victim's own body upon the |
17 | accused's instruction, but emission of semen is not required. |
18 | (9)(10) "Spouse" means a person married to the accused at the time of the alleged sexual |
19 | assault, except that such persons shall not be considered the spouse if the couple are living apart |
20 | and a decision for divorce has been granted, whether or not a final decree has been entered. |
21 | (10)(11) "Victim" means the person alleging to have been subjected to sexual assault. |
22 | 11-37-2. First degree sexual assault. -- A person is guilty of first degree sexual assault if |
23 | he or she engages in sexual penetration with another person, and if any of the following |
24 | circumstances exist: |
25 | (1) The accused, not being the spouse, knows or has reason to know that the victim is |
26 | mentally incapacitated, mentally disabled, or physically helpless. |
27 | (2) The accused uses force or coercion. |
28 | (3) The accused, through concealment or by the element of surprise, is able to overcome |
29 | the victim. |
30 | (4) The accused engages in the medical treatment or examination of the victim for the |
31 | purpose of sexual arousal, gratification, or stimulation. |
32 | (5) The accused has supervisory or disciplinary power over the victim by virtue of the |
33 | accused's legal, professional, voluntary or occupational status or is in a position of authority, and |
34 | the victim is nineteen (19) years of age or under. |
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1 | 11-37-4. Second degree sexual assault. -- A person is guilty of a second-degree sexual |
2 | assault if he or she engages in sexual contact with another person and if any of the following |
3 | circumstances exist: |
4 | (1) The accused knows or has reason to know that the victim is mentally incapacitated, |
5 | mentally disabled, or physically helpless. |
6 | (2) The accused uses force, element of surprise, or coercion. |
7 | (3) The accused engages in the medical treatment or examination of the victim for the |
8 | purpose of sexual arousal, gratification, or stimulation. |
9 | (4) The accused has supervisory or disciplinary power over the victim by virtue of the |
10 | accused's legal, professional, voluntary or occupational status or is in a position of authority, and |
11 | the victim is nineteen (19) years of age or under. |
12 | SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage. |
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LC004754 | |
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EXPLANATION | |
BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL | |
OF | |
A N A C T | |
RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- SEXUAL ASSAULT | |
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1 | This act would define any act of sexual penetration or contact performed by an individual |
2 | with supervisory or disciplinary power, or who is in a position of authority, upon a person |
3 | nineteen (19) years of age or younger, as sexual assault. |
4 | This act would take effect upon passage. |
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LC004754 | |
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