REPORT TITLE:
Sexual Assault, Minors


DESCRIPTION:
Criminalizes sexual conduct toward a 14, 15, or 16-year old if
the person's partner is 5 years or more older.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        1932
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO SEXUAL ASSAULT.
 


BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  Statutory rape laws, prohibiting sexual contact
 
 2 with a minor below a certain age, are intended to protect a very
 
 3 vulnerable sector of society from life-long consequences, many of
 
 4 them tragic.  At present, Hawai'i's statutory rape law limit is
 
 5 set quite low, at age thirteen, making the age of consent only
 
 6 fourteen.  This is the lowest age of consent in the nation,
 
 7 shared only by Pennsylvania.  The vast majority of states use age
 
 8 sixteen, seventeen, or eighteen as the age of consent to sexual
 
 9 relations.
 
10      According to an April 1997 press release from the Urban
 
11 Institute, forty per cent of girls age fifteen have partners who
 
12 are more than five years older, "rais[ing] serious concerns about
 
13 sexual abuse and coercion."  With a minor partner -- almost
 
14 always a girl -- and the significantly older adult partner --
 
15 almost always a man, there is a much stronger likelihood that in
 
16 some way the girl is being pressured, forced, or coerced into
 
17 having sex, as opposed to relationships in a closer age range.
 
18      A law criminalizing sexual conduct between young teenagers
 

 
Page 2                                                     1932
                                     H.B. NO.           
                                                        
                                                        


 1 and partners five or more years older will help protect our
 
 2 vulnerable children from predatory relationships. 
 
 3      SECTION 2.  Section 707-732, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 4 amended to read as follows:
 
 5      "§707-732  Sexual assault in the third degree.(1)  A
 
 6 person commits the offense of sexual assault in the third degree
 
 7 if:
 
 8      (a)  The person recklessly subjects another person to an act
 
 9           of sexual penetration by compulsion;
 
10      (b)  The person knowingly subjects to sexual contact another
 
11           person who is less than fourteen years old or causes
 
12           such a person to have sexual contact with the person;
 
13      (c)  The person knowingly subjects to sexual contact another
 
14           person who is mentally defective, mentally
 
15           incapacitated, or physically helpless, or causes such a
 
16           person to have sexual contact with the actor; [or]
 
17      (d)  The person, while employed in a state correctional
 
18           facility, knowingly subjects to sexual contact an
 
19           imprisoned person or causes such person to have sexual
 
20           contact with the actor;
 
21      (e)  The person knowingly, by strong compulsion, has sexual
 
22           contact with another person or causes another person to
 

 
 
 
Page 3                                                     1932
                                     H.B. NO.           
                                                        
                                                        


 1           have sexual contact with the actor; provided that
 
 2           paragraphs (b), (c), and (d) shall not be construed to
 
 3           prohibit practitioners licensed under chapter 453, 455,
 
 4           or 460, from performing any act within their respective
 
 5           practices[.]; or
 
 6      (f)  The person knowingly subjects to sexual contact a
 
 7           younger person who is age fourteen, fifteen, or
 
 8           sixteen, or causes such a person to have sexual contact
 
 9           with the person when the older person is at least five
 
10           years older than the younger person.
 
11      (2)  Sexual assault in the third degree is a class C
 
12 felony."
 
13      SECTION 3.  This Act does not affect rights and duties that
 
14 matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were
 
15 begun, before its effective date.
 
16      SECTION 4.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
17 New statutory material is underscored.
 
18      SECTION 5.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
 
19 
 
20                           INTRODUCED BY:_________________________