Santa Fe, NM – Legislation to protect children from sexual predators who use their position of authority to prey on their victims passed the House of Representatives today by a vote of 63-0. The bill, House Bill 121, is sponsored by Rep. Sharon Clahchischilliage.
"Skilled predators take advantage of the implicit trust we invest in certain positions of authority to target children," said Clahchischilliage. "This bill fixes the law to hold these violators accountable for their crimes against minors. It passed the House without any opposition, and I hope it will receive the same support in the Senate."
The bill would remove the current requirement that an injury result an incident of abuse in order for an adult to be charged with criminal sexual contact of a minor. It would also align the victim age ranges defined in the criminal sexual penetration and criminal sexual contact statutes.
The legislation clarifies that all offenders who commit criminal sexual contact or criminal sexual penetration will be held accountable for their actions by eliminating the defined list of offenders from the statute. Currently, only individuals belonging to one of the listed classifications could be prosecuted under the laws.
If passed, prosecutors also would no longer need to prove that an individual expressly stated or leveraged their authority over to the victim in order to be convicted of criminal sexual contact with a child.
In addition, HB 121 would make it clear that it's a crime for a person of authority to engage in sexual act with a minor, with or without the minor's consent.