HB278: relative to certain acts of sexual assault.

HB 278-FN - FINAL VERSION

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2003 SESSION

03-0296

04/10

HOUSE BILL 278-FN

AN ACT relative to certain acts of sexual assault.

SPONSORS: Rep. Knowles, Straf 69; Rep. Welch, Rock 79; Rep. Jones, Sull 19; Rep. Tholl, Coos 2

COMMITTEE: Criminal Justice and Public Safety

AMENDED ANALYSIS

This bill provides that an actor is guilty of class A misdemeanor sexual assault when, absent any act that would constitute aggravated felonious sexual assault, such actor engages in sexual penetration with a person other than a legal spouse who is 13 years of age or older and under 16 years of age where the age difference between the actor and the victim is 4 years or less.

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

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03-0296

04/10

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Three

AN ACT relative to certain acts of sexual assault.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

1 Sexual Assault and Related Offenses; Sexual Assault. RSA 632-A:4 is repealed and reenacted to read as follows:

632-A:4 Sexual Assault.

I. A person is guilty of a class A misdemeanor under any of the following circumstances:

(a) When the actor subjects another person who is 13 years of age or older to sexual contact under any of the circumstances named in RSA 632-A:2.

(b) In the absence of any of the circumstances set forth in RSA 632-A:2, when the actor engages in sexual penetration with a person, other than the actor's legal spouse, who is 13 years of age or older and under 16 years of age where the age difference between the actor and the other person is 4 years or less.

II. A person found guilty under subparagraph I(b) of this section shall not be required to register as a sexual offender under RSA 651-B.

2 Registration of Criminal Offenders; Exception Inserted. Amend RSA 651-B:1, III (a) to read as follows:

(a) RSA 632-A:2, 632-A:3, [632-A:4] 632-A:4, I(a), 645:1, II, or 645:1, III; or

3 Registration of Sexual Offenders; Duration of Registration; Exception Inserted. Amend RSA 651-B:6, II to read as follows:

II. Any sexual offender convicted of a violation or attempted violation of RSA [632-A:4] 632-A:4, I(a) or RSA 645:1, II, and any offender against children convicted of a violation or attempted violation of RSA 633:3 or 645:2, I, or of an equivalent offense in an out-of-state jurisdiction, shall be registered for a 10-year period from the date of release following conviction, provided that any such registration period shall not run concurrently with any registration period resulting from a subsequent conviction.

4 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2004.

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HB 278-FN - FISCAL NOTE

AN ACT relative to certain acts of sexual assault.

FISCAL IMPACT:

The Judicial Branch and Judicial Council state this bill may decrease state expenditures by an indeterminable amount in FY 2004 and each year thereafter. The Department of Justice and the Association of Counties state this bill may increase state and county expenditures by an indeterminable amount in FY 2004 and each year thereafter. There will be no fiscal impact on state, county, and local revenue or local expenditures.

METHODOLOGY:

The Judicial Branch states this bill would make sexual penetration of one between 13 and 15, inclusive, a class A misdemeanor if the defendant is no more than four years older than the victim and if there is no evidence of coercion, force, or intimidation by the defendant. Under current law, the crime would be a class B felony and would be tried in the Superior Court, usually before a jury. No statistics are available regarding how many prosecutions would be affected by this change, therefor, determining the fiscal impact of this proposal is difficult. On the one hand, lowering the penalty from a felony to a misdemeanor could result in net savings since misdemeanor trials in the District Court are less expensive than jury trials in the Superior Court. One the other hand, a defendant convicted of a class A misdemeanor in the District Court has a right to a de novo appeal and a jury trial in the Superior Court. Therefor, any savings resulting from the lowered penalty may be lost by appeals to the Superior Court.

The Judicial Council states that it can be determined that the reduction in charge will result in some financial savings for those cases brought against the older actor as a misdemeanor. The savings potential for each case handled by the public defender or contract attorneys would be $437.50 ($687.50 for a felony contract rate versus $250 for a misdemeanor contract rate). If an assigned counsel attorney must be used, the hourly rate of $60 for a juvenile delinquency matter or as a misdemeanor with fee caps of $1,200 and $1,000, respectively are significantly less than the fee cap of $3,000 for a felony case. If a motion to exceed the fee cap is approved and/or "services other than counsel" are approved, these will be chargeable to the Indigent Defense Fund. The Council is unable to predict the number of cases that may result from the

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passage of this legislation, therefor, they are unable to estimate the dollar amount of the anticipated savings in costs.

The Association of Counties states this bill may increase county expenditures, but the fiscal impact depends on the number of individuals who are sentenced to a county house of corrections as a result of this bill. The Association has estimated the average annual cost to incarcerate an individual in a county house of corrections to be $21,634.

The Department of Justice states this bill will involve the agency in additional litigation. Costs would include the production of documents, research, travel, overtime for support staff, and additional caseloads for attorneys. Exclusive of staff time, the cost of litigation averages $2,388 for civil cases and $1,351 for criminal cases. In addition, any increase in the number of complaints to the agency will increase both workload and the priority in which they are handled.