This Act seeks to increase the age of consent from the current age of fourteen to sixteen. Includes a provision that the actor must be at least 4 years older than the victim in order to be charged with first degree and third degree sexual assault.

A BILL FOR AN ACT

SECTION 1. Pedophilia is both a crime against a person and against society as a whole. No one can deny the physical and emotional trauma a minor endures when they are the victims of a sexual assault. In many cases, the emotional trauma of a sexual assault is difficult to overcome and requires the expertise of parents and professionals to begin to deal with it. Success is no guarantee and victims often carry feelings of guilt, anger, and depression into their adult lives, robbing society of the full potential of young victims of sexual assault.

The Legislature finds that our future, the children of Hawaii, should be protected against this heinous crime. The purpose of this bill is to increase the age of consent from fourteen to sixteen in an effort to apply the stiffer penalties for sexual assault on a minor to a greater number of sexual predators thereby protecting minors from this threat through deterrence or increased periods of incarceration.

SECTION 2. Section 707-730(1)(b), Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§707-730 Sexual Assault in the first degree. (1) A person commits the offense of sexual assault in the first degree if:

(a) The person knowingly subjects another person to an act of sexual penetration by strong compulsion;

(b) The person knowingly subjects to sexual penetration another person who is less than [fourteen] sixteen years old[;], provided the actor is at least four years older than the other person. [t]This paragraph shall not be construed to prohibit practitioners licensed under chapter 453, 455, or 460, from performing any act within their respective practices.

(2) Sexual assault in the first degree is a class A felony.

SECTION 3. Section 707-732, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§707-732 Sexual assault in the third degree. (1) A person commits the offense of sexual assault in the third degree if:

(2) Sexual assault in the third degree is a class C felony. "

SECTION 4. Section 707-733.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§707-733.5 Continuous sexual assault of a minor under the age of [fourteen] sixteen years. (1) Any person who:

(a) Either resides in the same home with a minor under the age of [fourteen] sixteen years or has recurring access to the minor; and

(b) Engages in three or more acts of sexual penetration or sexual contact with the minor over a period of time, but while the minor is under the age of [fourteen] sixteen years,

is guilty of the offense of continuous sexual assault of a minor under the age of [fourteen] sixteen years.

(2) To convict under this section, the trier of fact, if a jury, need unanimously agree only that the requisite number of acts have occurred; the jury need not agree on which acts constitute the requisite number.

(3) No other felony sex offense involving the same victim may be charged in the same proceeding with a charge under this section, unless the other charged offense occurred outside the time frame of the offense charged under this section or the other offense is charged in the alternative. A defendant may be charged with only one count under this section unless more than one victim is involved, in which case a separate count may be charged for each victim.

(4) Continuous sexual assault of a minor under the age of [fourteen] sixteen years is a class A felony."