Strengthening Laws Against Sexual Assault

        Laws of 2000

The legislation extends protections to additional victims of sex offenses, establishes procedural reforms to enhance prosecution, and increases penalties for certain sex crimes.

The bill is the first major reform of Article 130, the article in the penal law defining sex crimes, since the penal law was adopted in 1965. In addition, the legislation contains numerous other important reforms designed to protect the public, particularly our children, from sexual predators and other violent felons.

The legislation also provides enhanced protections to victims by enacting landmark provisions penalizing those who commit the crime of "date rape" or "acquaintance rape." In addition, the bill adds certain date rape drugs to the list of controlled substances that are illegal to sell or possess and codifies the Court of Appeals decision in People v. Liberta, 1984, by removing the "marital exemption" rule for those who commit certain sex crimes against their spouses.

NEW LAWS AND INCREASED PENALTIES:

Extends protection to additional categories of sex offense victims:

The legislation extends the crimes of rape and sodomy to cover victims of acquaintance or "date rape" and punishes with appropriate severity those who employ and traffic in so-called "date-rape" drugs -- controlled substances administered to victims without their knowledge to facilitate the commission of rape, sodomy and other sex crimes. Under the bill, offenders convicted would be subject to consecutive sentences for facilitating the crime with a controlled substance and the sex offense conviction arising from the same transaction. The bill also adds certain date rape drugs to the list of controlled substances for which a person can be found guilty of criminal sale of a controlled substance and criminal possession of a controlled substance.

The legislation creates the new crime of "forcible touching" which punishes, as a Class A misdemeanor, those who intentionally and for no legitimate purpose, forcibly touch the sexual or other intimate parts of another for the purpose of degrading or abusing their victim or gratifying the actor's sexual desire.

Under previous law, persons who repeatedly commit acts of sexual abuse -- for example, those who repeatedly molest women in subway trains -- were only guilty of third degree Sexual Abuse (Class B misdemeanor) or second degree Sexual Abuse (Class A misdemeanor), regardless of how many times they commit this insulting and injurious offense. Under the new law, anyone who commits this type of crime or any combination of these crimes on three occasions in ten years will now be guilty of the new felony crime of Persistent Sexual Abuse (a Class E felony.)

The legislation also increases the age limits for children victimized by "statutory" rape, sodomy, and other sex crimes. Under these "statutory" offenses, persons who engage in sexual acts with children are guilty of crimes regardless of whether they knew the victim's age and regardless of whether force was used. Those who commit acts of intercourse or deviate sexual intercourse with children under 13 years old (the previous maximum age was 11 years old) will now be guilty of a class B felony, and those who commit such crimes against children under 15 years old (the previous maximum age was 14 years old) will be guilty of a class D felony.

The need to punish recidivists more severely is, of course, most acute with respect to those who prey on those most helpless among us: our children. Accordingly, the legislation enacts a tough "two-strikes and you're out" provision for repeat child molesters who commit particularly serious sexual assaults against our children, and requires that they receive a range of enhanced penalties, which could be as severe as life imprisonment, based on the current and predicate conviction.

The bill eliminates the "marital exemption," an outmoded and offensive rule that exempts from prosecution those who commit a variety of sex crimes against their spouses. It also eliminates the crime of consensual sodomy.

The bill punishes unscrupulous health care providers who exploit their patients and clients by subjecting them to acts of improper sexual contact even in cases where the patient or client does not visibly protest at the time of the abuse.

Greater protection for our children, including:

The legislation prevents a court from ordering bail or recognizance pending appeal for sexual predators convicted of all Class B and C felony sex crimes committed against minors less than 18 years old. It is already prevented for Class A felony sex crimes against minors.

The bill also amends the Criminal Procedure Law to lower from 12 to 9 the age that child victims of sexual assault can give sworn testimony in court. Without this reform, meritorious prosecutions have been impaired and completely thwarted by the inability of child victims to give sworn testimony.

Building on the Governor's success in 1996, the bill increases the age of the child victim -- from less than 11 years old to less than 13 years -- for crimes involving sexual conduct against children. As a result, the bill will significantly increase the ability of prosecutors to convict some of the worst predators -- those who engage in a course of conduct over a period of time.

The bill increases probation terms for sex offenders. Those offenders who commit serious felony-level sex crimes will be subject to mandatory 10-year periods of probation (past law set a five-year limit). For Class A misdemeanor sex crimes, the bill mandates six-year (rather than three-year) probationary terms. The bill also bars certain sex offender probationers and parolees from entering school grounds when their victim had been under 18 years of age.

Procedural reform to enhance prosecution:

The bill overturns the Ranghelle Rule to prevent fairly obtained convictions for serious crimes including murder, rape and robbery from being automatically reversed on mere technicalities without any showing of prejudice.

This historic reform, which has been a top priority for law enforcement officials for more than 15 years, overturns a decision that imposed an inflexible rule, adopted by no other state in the nation, that conferred the windfall of undeserved new trials on countless serious violent criminals, such as murderers and sexual predators.

NEW PROGRAMS:

The bill creates the "Rape Crisis Intervention & Prevention Program," which will be operated by the Department of Health (DOH.) The new law authorizes DOH to contract with outside groups to provide counseling and other assistance to clients concerning sex offenses, sexual abuse or incest. The Department will draft regulations for implementation, provide technical assistance, and report to the Governor and the Legislature on its evaluation of the programs with any recommendations for change on January 15, 2003 and every three years thereafter.

The bill also authorizes DOH, in consultation with the Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS,) to designate certain hospitals as sites for a 24 hour Sexual Assault Forensic Examiner (SAFE) program. Hospitals designated will provide special rooms in the Emergency Room area where victims of sexual assault will be examined by trained experts in forensic evidence collection in sexual assault cases. The SAFE hospitals will be located in every borough and across New York State.

As of April 1, 2001 hospitals treating sex offense victims are eligible to receive at no cost from DCJS sexual offense evidence collection kits.

SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY:

The Sexual Assault Reform Act also amends Megan's Law to require that the Sex Offender Registry include a sexual offender's internet accounts and internet screen names.

CRIME VICTIMS BOARD:

Current law provides that the Crime Victims Board may compensate a victim of sexual assault only if the victim complies with all eligibility criteria for such awards. These criteria include standards such as reporting the crime to appropriate authorities and cooperating with police and prosecutors.

The bill amends eligibility criteria to expand the definition of criminal justice agency to include a forensic medical examination. Specifically, a victim of a sex offense is eligible to receive reimbursement for the cost of a forensic medical examination, regardless of whether the examination was part of a sex offense investigation or prosecution.