2015 -- H 5070

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LC000044

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2015

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES - TRAFFICKING OF PERSONS AND

INVOLUNTARY SERVITUDE

     

     Introduced By: Representatives Costa, Chippendale, Roberts, Casey, and Morin

     Date Introduced: January 14, 2015

     Referred To: House Judiciary

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

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     SECTION 1. Section 11-67-6 of the General Laws in Chapter 11-67 entitled "Trafficking

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of Persons and Involuntary Servitude" is hereby amended to read as follows:

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     11-67-6. Sex trafficking of a minor. -- (a) Definitions. - As used in this section:

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      (1) "Commercial sex act" means any sex act or sexually explicit performance on account

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of which anything of value is given, promised to, or received, directly or indirectly, by any

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person.

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      (2) "Minor" refers to any natural person under eighteen (18) years of age.

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      (3) "Person" includes an individual, corporation, partnership, association, a government

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body, a municipal corporation, or any other legal entity.

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      (4) "Sex act" means sexual intercourse, cunnilingus, fellatio, anal intercourse, and digital

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intrusion or intrusion by any object into the genital opening or anal opening of another person's

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body or the stimulation by hand of another's genitals for the purposes of arousing or gratifying the

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sexual desire of either person.

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      (5) "Sexually-explicit performance" means an act or show, intended to arouse, satisfy the

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sexual desires of, or appeal to the prurient interests of patrons or viewers, whether public or

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private, live, photographed, recorded, or videotaped.

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      (b) Any person who:

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      (1) Recruits, employs, entices, solicits, isolates, harbors, transports, provides, persuades,

 

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obtains, or maintains, or so attempts, any minor for the purposes of commercial sex acts; or

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      (2) Sells or purchases a minor for the purposes of commercial sex acts; or

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      (3) Benefits, financially or by receiving anything of value, from participation in a

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venture which has engaged in an act described in subdivision (1) or (2); or

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      (c) Every person who shall commit sex trafficking of a minor, shall be guilty of a felony

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and subject to not more than forty (40) fifty (50) years imprisonment or a fine of up to forty

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thousand dollars ($40,000), or both.

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      (d) Obstructs, or attempts to obstruct, or in any way interferes with or prevents the

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enforcement of this section shall be guilty of a felony and subject to not more than twenty (20)

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thirty-five (35) years imprisonment, or a fine of up to twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) forty

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thousand dollars ($40,000), or both.

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      (e) In a prosecution under this section, the government need not prove that the defendant

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knew the victim's age.

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     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES - TRAFFICKING OF PERSONS AND

INVOLUNTARY SERVITUDE

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     This act increases the penalties for sex trafficking of a minor from forty (40) years

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imprisonment to fifty (50) years imprisonment and also increases the penalties for obstruction or

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interference with enforcement of sex trafficking laws from twenty (20) years imprisonment to

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thirty-five (35) years imprisonment and the fine from twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) to forty

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thousand dollars ($40,000).

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     This act would take effect upon passage.

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