2018 -- H 7386

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LC003324

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2018

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- SEXUAL ASSAULT

     

     Introduced By: Representatives Vella-Wilkinson, Casimiro, Shanley, Lancia, and
Walsh

     Date Introduced: February 01, 2018

     Referred To: House Judiciary

     (Attorney General)

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

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     SECTION 1. Section 11-37-1 of the General Laws in Chapter 11-37 entitled "Sexual

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Assault" is hereby amended to read as follows:

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     11-37-1. Definitions.

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     The following words and phrases, when used in this chapter, have the following

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meanings:

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     (1) "Accused" means a person accused of a sexual assault.

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     (2) "Force or coercion" means when the accused does any of the following:

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     (i) Uses or threatens to use a weapon, or any article used or fashioned in a manner to lead

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the victim to reasonably believe it to be a weapon.

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     (ii) Overcomes the victim through the application of physical force or physical violence.

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     (iii) Coerces the victim to submit by threatening to use force or violence on the victim

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and the victim reasonably believes that the accused has the present ability to execute these threats.

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     (iv) Coerces the victim to submit by threatening to at some time in the future murder,

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inflict serious bodily injury upon or kidnap the victim or any other person and the victim

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reasonably believes that the accused has the ability to execute this threat.

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     (3) "Intimate parts" means the genital or anal areas, groin, inner thigh, or buttock of any

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person or the breast of a female.

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     (4) "Mentally disabled" means a person who has a mental impairment which renders that

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person incapable of appraising the nature of the act.

 

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     (5) "Mentally incapacitated" means a person who is rendered temporarily incapable of

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appraising or controlling his or her conduct due to the influence of a narcotic, anesthetic, or other

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substance administered to that person without his or her consent, or who is mentally unable to

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communicate unwillingness to engage in the act.

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     (6) "Physically helpless" means a person who is unconscious, asleep, or for any other

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reason is physically unable to communicate unwillingness to an act.

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     (7) "Sexual contact" means the intentional touching of the victim's or accused's intimate

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parts, or the victim's own body upon the accused's instruction, clothed or unclothed, if that

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intentional touching can be reasonably construed as intended by the accused to be for the purpose

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of sexual arousal, gratification, or assault.

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     (8) "Sexual penetration" means sexual intercourse, cunnilingus, fellatio, and anal

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intercourse, or any other intrusion, however slight, by any part of a person's body or by any object

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into the genital or anal openings of another person's body, or the victim's own body upon the

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accused's instruction, but emission of semen is not required.

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     (9) "Spouse" means a person married to the accused at the time of the alleged sexual

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assault, except that such persons shall not be considered the spouse if the couple are living apart

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and a decision for divorce has been granted, whether or not a final decree has been entered.

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     (10) "Victim" means the person alleging to have been subjected to sexual assault.

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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 -- SEXUAL ASSAULT

***

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     This act would amend the definition of sexual contact in ยง 11-37-1 to include the

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intentional touching of the victim's own body at the accused's instruction.

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     This act would take effect upon passage.

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