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TITLE 97
CRIMES
CHAPTER 3
CRIMES AGAINST THE PERSON
§ 97-3-65. Statutory rape; enhanced penalty for forcible sexual
intercourse or statutory rape by administering certain substances.
(1) The crime of statutory rape is committed
when:
(a) Any person seventeen (17) years of age or older has
sexual intercourse with a child who:
(i) Is at least fourteen (14) but under sixteen (16) years
of age;
(ii) Is thirty-six (36) or more months younger than the
person; and
(iii) Is not the person's spouse; or
(b) A person of any age has sexual intercourse with a child
who:
(i) Is under the age of fourteen (14) years;
(ii) Is twenty-four (24) or more months younger than the
person; and
(iii) Is not the person's spouse.
(2) Neither the victim's consent nor the victim's lack
of chastity is a defense to a charge of statutory rape.
(3) Upon conviction for statutory rape, the defendant
shall be sentenced as follows:
(a) If eighteen (18) years of age or older, but under
twenty-one (21) years of age, and convicted under paragraph (1)(a) of this
section, to imprisonment for not more than five (5) years in the State
Penitentiary or a fine of not more than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), or
both;
(b) If twenty-one (21) years of age or older and convicted
under paragraph (1)(a) of this section, to imprisonment of not more than thirty
(30) years in the State Penitentiary or a fine of not more than Ten Thousand
Dollars ($10,000.00), or both, for the first offense, and not more than forty
(40) years in the State Penitentiary for each subsequent offense;
(c) If eighteen (18) years of age or older and convicted
under paragraph (1)(b) of this section, to imprisonment for life in the State
Penitentiary or such lesser term of imprisonment as the court may determine,
but not less than twenty (20) years.
(d) If thirteen (13) years of age or older but under
eighteen (18) years of age and convicted under paragraph (1)(a) or (1)(b) of
this section, such imprisonment, fine or other sentence as the court, in its
discretion, may determine.
(4) (a) Every person who shall have forcible sexual intercourse with any person, or who shall have sexual intercourse not constituting forcible sexual intercourse or statutory rape with any person without that person's consent by administering to such person any substance or liquid which shall produce such stupor or such imbecility of mind or weakness of body as to prevent effectual resistance, upon conviction, shall be imprisoned for life in the State Penitentiary if the jury by its verdict so prescribes; and in cases where the jury fails to fix the penalty at life imprisonment, the court shall fix the penalty at imprisonment in the State Penitentiary for any term as the court, in its discretion, may determine.
(b) This subsection (4) shall apply whether the perpetrator
is married to the victim or not.
(5) In all cases where a victim is under the age of
sixteen (16) years, it shall not be necessary to prove penetration where it is
shown the genitals, anus or perineum of the child have been lacerated or torn
in the attempt to have sexual intercourse with the child.
(6) For the purposes of this section, "sexual
intercourse" shall mean a joining of the sexual organs of a male and
female human being in which the penis of the male is inserted into the vagina
of the female.
§ 97-3-71. Rape; assault with intent to
ravish.
Every person who shall be convicted of an assault with
intent to forcibly ravish any female of previous chaste character shall be
punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary for life, or for such shorter time
as may be fixed by the jury, or by the court upon the entry of a plea of
guilty.
§ 97-3-85. Threats and intimidation; by letter or notice.
If any person shall post, mail, deliver,
or drop a threatening letter or notice to another, whether such other be named
or indicated therein or not, with intent to terrorize or to intimidate such
other, he shall, upon conviction, be punished by imprisonment in the county
jail not more than six months, or by fine not more than five hundred dollars,
or both.
§ 97-3-95. Sexual battery.
(1) A person is guilty of sexual battery if he or she
engages in sexual penetration with:
(a) Another person without his or her consent;
(b) A mentally defective, mentally incapacitated or physically helpless person;
(c) A child at least fourteen (14) but under sixteen (16)
years of age, if the person is thirty-six (36) or more months older than the
child; or
(d) A child under the age of fourteen (14) years of age, if
the person is twenty-four (24) or more months older than the child.
(2) A person is guilty of sexual
battery if he or she engages in sexual penetration with a child under the age
of eighteen (18) years if the person is in a position of trust or authority
over the child including without limitation the child's teacher, counselor,
physician, psychiatrist, psychologist, minister, priest, physical therapist,
chiropractor, legal guardian, parent, stepparent, aunt, uncle, scout leader or
coach.
§ 97-3-97. Sexual battery; definitions.
For purposes of Sections 97-3-95 through 97-3-103 the
following words shall have the meaning ascribed herein unless the context
otherwise requires:
(a) "Sexual penetration" includes cunnilingus,
fellatio, buggery or pederasty, any penetration of the genital or anal openings
of another person's body by any part of a person's body, and insertion of any
object into the genital or anal openings of another person's body.
(b) A "mentally defective person" is one
who suffers from a mental disease, defect or condition which renders that
person temporarily or permanently incapable of knowing the nature and quality
of his or her conduct.
(c) A "mentally incapacitated person" is one
rendered incapable of knowing or controlling his or her conduct, or incapable
of resisting an act due to the influence of any drug, narcotic, anesthetic, or
other substance administered to that person without his or her consent.
(d) A "physically helpless person" is one who is
unconscious or one who for any other reason is physically incapable of
communicating an unwillingness to engage in an act.
CHAPTER
5
OFFENSES
AFFECTING CHILDREN
§ 97-5-5. Enticing child for concealment, prostitution or
marriage.
Every person who shall maliciously,
wilfully, or fraudulently lead, take, carry away, decoy or entice away, any
child under the age of fourteen years, with intent to detain or conceal such
child from its parents, guardian, or other person having lawful charge of such
child, or for the purpose of prostitution, concubinage, or marriage, shall, on
conviction, be imprisoned in the penitentiary not exceeding ten years, or
imprisoned in the county jail not more than one year, or fined not more than
one thousand dollars, or both.
§ 97-5-24. Sexual involvement of school employee with student;
duty to report.
If any person eighteen (18) years or
older who is employed by any public or private school district in this state is
accused of fondling or having any type of sexual involvement with any child
under the age of eighteen (18) years who is enrolled in such school, the
principal of such school and the superintendent of such school district shall
timely notify the district attorney with jurisdiction where the school is
located of such accusation, provided that such accusation is reported to the
principal and to the school superintendent and that there is a reasonable basis
to believe that such accusation is true.
§ 97-5-31. Exploitation of children; definitions.
As used in Sections 97-5-33 through 97-5-37, the following
words and phrases shall have the meanings given to them in this section:
(a) "Child" means any individual who has not
attained the age of eighteen (18) years.
(b) "Sexually explicit conduct" means actual or
simulated:
(i) Sexual intercourse, including genital-genital,
oral-genital, anal-genital, or oral-anal, whether between persons of the same
or opposite sex;
(ii) Bestiality;
(iii) Masturbation;
(iv) Sadistic or masochistic abuse;
(v) Lascivious exhibition of the genitals or pubic area of
any person; or
(vi) Fondling or other erotic touching of the genitals, pubic area, buttocks, anus or breast.
(c) "Producing" means producing, directing, manufacturing, issuing, publishing or advertising.
(d) "Visual depiction" includes without limitation developed or undeveloped film and video tape or other visual unaltered reproductions by computer.
(e) "Computer" has the meaning given in Title 18,
United States Code, Section 1030.
(f) "Simulated" means any
depicting of the genitals or rectal areas that gives the appearance of sexual
conduct or incipient sexual conduct.
§ 97-5-33. Exploitation of children; prohibitions.
(1) No person shall, by any means including computer,
cause, solicit or knowingly permit any child to engage in sexually explicit
conduct or in the simulation of sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of
producing any visual depiction of such conduct.
(2) No person shall, by any means including computer,
photograph, film, video tape or otherwise depict or record a child engaging in
sexually explicit conduct or in the simulation of sexually explicit
conduct.
(3) No person shall, by any means including computer,
knowingly send, transport, transmit, ship, mail or receive any photograph,
drawing, sketch, film, video tape or other visual depiction of an actual child
engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
(4) No person shall, by any means including computer,
receive with intent to distribute, distribute for sale, sell or attempt to sell
in any manner any photograph, drawing, sketch, film, video tape or other visual
depiction of an actual child engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
(5) No person shall, by any means including computer,
possess any photograph, drawing, sketch, film, video tape or other visual
depiction of an actual child engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
(6) No person shall, by any means including computer,
knowingly entice, induce, persuade, seduce, solicit, advise, coerce, or order a
child to meet with the defendant or any other person for the purpose of
engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
(7) No person shall by any means, including computer,
knowingly entice, induce, persuade, seduce, solicit, advise, coerce or order a
child to produce any visual depiction of adult sexual conduct or any sexually
explicit conduct.
(8) The fact that an undercover operative or law
enforcement officer was involved in the detection and investigation of an
offense under this section shall not constitute a defense to a prosecution
under this section.
(9) For purposes of determining
jurisdiction, the offense is committed in this state if all or part of the
conduct described in this section occurs in the State of Mississippi or if the
transmission that constitutes the offense either originates in this state or is
received in this state.
§ 97-5-35. Exploitation of children; penalties.
Any person who violates any provision of Section 97-5-33
shall be guilty of a felony and upon conviction shall be fined not less than
Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00) nor more than Five Hundred Thousand Dollars
($500,000.00) and shall be imprisoned for not less than five (5) years nor more
than forty (40) years. Any person convicted of a second or subsequent violation
of Section 97-5-33 shall be fined not less than One Hundred Thousand Dollars
($100,000.00) nor more than One Million Dollars ($1,000,000.00) and shall be
confined in the custody of the Department of Corrections for life or such
lesser term as the court may determine, but not less than twenty (20)
years.
§ 97-5-37. Exploitation of children; other remedies.
(The provisions of Sections 97-5-31 through
97-5-37 are supplemental to any statute relating to child abuse or neglect,
obscenity, enticement of children or contributing to delinquency of a minor and
acquittal or conviction pursuant to any other statute shall not be a bar to
prosecution under Sections 97-5-31 through 97-5-37. Acquittal or conviction
under Sections 97-5-31 through 97-5-37 shall not be a bar to prosecution and
conviction under other statutes defining crimes or misdemeanors, nor to any
civil or administrative remedy otherwise available.
§ 97-5-39. Contributing to the neglect or delinquency of a child; felonious abuse and/or battery of a child.
(1) (a) Except as otherwise provided in this section,
any parent, guardian or other person who willfully commits any act or omits the
performance of any duty, which act or omission contributes to or tends to
contribute to the neglect or delinquency of any child or which act or omission
results in the abuse of any child, as defined in Section 43-21-105(m) of the
Youth Court Law, or who knowingly aids any child in escaping or absenting
himself from the guardianship or custody of any person, agency or institution,
or knowingly harbors or conceals, or aids in harboring or concealing, any child
who has absented himself without permission from the guardianship or custody of
any person, agency or institution to which the child shall have been committed
by the youth court shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall
be punished by a fine not to exceed One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or by
imprisonment not to exceed one (1) year in jail, or by both such fine and
imprisonment.
(b) If the child's deprivation of necessary food, clothing, shelter, health care or supervision appropriate to the child's age results in substantial harm to the child's physical, mental or emotional health, the person may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than five (5) years or to payment of a fine of not more than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), or both.
(c) A parent, legal guardian or other person who knowingly
permits the continuing physical or sexual abuse of a child is guilty of neglect
of a child and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than ten (10)
years or to payment of a fine of not more than Ten Thousand Dollars
($10,000.00), or both.
(2) (a) Any person who shall intentionally (i) burn
any child, (ii) torture any child or, (iii) except in self-defense or in order
to prevent bodily harm to a third party, whip, strike or otherwise abuse or
mutilate any child in such a manner as to cause serious bodily harm, shall be
guilty of felonious abuse of a child and, upon conviction, shall be sentenced
to imprisonment in the custody of the Department of Corrections for life or
such lesser term of imprisonment as the court may determine, but not less than
ten (10) years. For any second or subsequent conviction under this subsection,
the person shall be sentenced to imprisonment for life.
(b) (i) A parent, legal guardian or caretaker who endangers
a child's person or health by knowingly causing or permitting the child to be
present where any person is selling, manufacturing or possessing immediate
precursors or chemical substances with intent to manufacture, sell or possess a
controlled substance as prohibited under Section 41-29-139 or 41-29-313, is
guilty of child endangerment and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more
than ten (10) years or to payment of a fine of not more than Ten Thousand
Dollars ($10,000.00), or both.
(ii) If the endangerment results in substantial harm to the child's physical, mental or emotional health, the person may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than twenty (20) years or to payment of a fine of not more than Twenty Thousand Dollars ($20,000.00), or both.
(3) Nothing contained in this section shall prevent
proceedings against the parent, guardian or other person under any statute of
this state or any municipal ordinance defining any act as a crime or
misdemeanor. Nothing in the provisions of this section shall preclude any
person from having a right to trial by jury when charged with having violated
the provisions of this section.
(4) After consultation with the Department of Human
Services, a regional mental health center or an appropriate professional
person, a judge may suspend imposition or execution of a sentence provided in
subsections (1) and (2) of this section and in lieu thereof require treatment
over a specified period of time at any approved public or private treatment
facility. A person may be eligible for treatment in lieu of criminal penalties
no more than one (1) time.
(5) In any proceeding resulting from a report made pursuant to Section 43-21-353 of the Youth Court Law, the testimony of the physician making the report regarding the child's injuries or condition or cause thereof shall not be excluded on the ground that the physician's testimony violates the physician-patient privilege or similar privilege or rule against disclosure. The physician's report shall not be considered as evidence unless introduced as an exhibit to his testimony.
(6) Any criminal prosecution arising from a
violation of this section shall be tried in the circuit, county, justice or
municipal court having jurisdiction; provided, however, that nothing herein
shall abridge or dilute the contempt powers of the youth court.
§ 97-5-40. Condoning child abuse.
(1) Any parent, guardian, custodian, stepparent or any other person who lives in the household with a child, who knowingly condones an incident of felonious child abuse of that child, which consists of one or more violations of (a) subsection (2) of Section 97-5-39 or (b) felonious sexual battery of that child, which consists of one or more violations of Section 97-3-95 shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than one (1) year or by a fine of not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or both.
(2) A person shall not be considered to have condoned child abuse merely because such person does not report an act of child abuse.
(3) The provisions of this section shall be in addition to any other criminal law.
§ 97-5-41. Carnal knowledge of step or adopted child; carnal
knowledge of child by cohabitating partner.
(1) Any person who shall have carnal knowledge of his
or her unmarried stepchild or adopted child younger than himself or herself and
over fourteen (14) and under eighteen (18) years of age, upon conviction, shall
be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term not exceeding ten
(10) years.
(2) Any person who shall have carnal knowledge of an
unmarried child younger than himself or herself and over fourteen (14) and
under eighteen (18) years of age, with whose parent he or she is cohabiting or
living together as husband and wife, upon conviction, shall be punished by
imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term not exceeding ten (10) years.
§ 97-5-42. Protection of children from parents convicted of felony
child sexual abuse; creation of local registry; penalties; standards for
visitation.
(1) (a) For purposes of this section, a conviction of
felony parental child sexual abuse shall include any nolo contendere plea,
guilty plea or conviction at trial to any offense enumerated in Section
93-15-103(3)(g) or any other statute of the State of Mississippi whereby a
parent may be penalized as a felon on account of sexual abuse of his or her own
child; and shall include any conviction by plea or trial in any other state of
the United States to an offense whereby a parent may be penalized as a felon
for sexual abuse of his or her own child under the laws of that state, or which
would be so penalized for such conduct had the act or acts been committed in
the State of Mississippi.
(b) A certified copy of the court order or judgment
evidencing such a conviction shall be accepted by any public office with
responsibilities pursuant to this section, and by any court in the State of
Mississippi, as conclusive evidence of the conviction.
(2) (a) No person who has been convicted of felony
parental child sexual abuse shall contact or attempt to contact the victim
child without the prior express written permission of the child's then legal
custodian, who may be the other parent, a guardian, person in loco parentis or
person with legal or physical custody of a child.
(b) No person who has been convicted of felony parental
child sexual abuse shall harass, threaten, intimidate or by any other means
menace the victim child or any legal custodian of the child, who may be the
other parent, a guardian, person in loco parentis or person with legal or
physical custody of a child.
(c) Any person who believes that a person who has been
convicted of felony parental child sexual abuse may violate the provisions of
subsection (2) (a) or (2) (b) hereof may register with the sheriff and any
municipal law enforcement agency of the child's county and municipality of
residence, setting forth the factual basis for that belief which shall include
a certified copy of the court order or judgment evidencing the conviction of
the child sexual abuse felon. The sheriff's office of each county and all
municipal law enforcement agencies shall maintain a separate and distinct
register for the purpose of recording the data required herein, and shall
advise the reporting party of how emergency contact can be made with that
office at any time with respect to a threatened violation of subsection (2) (a)
or (2) (b) hereof. Immediate response with police protection shall be provided
to any emergency contact made pursuant to this section, which police protection
shall be continued in such reasonable manner as to deter future violations and
protect the child and any person with legal custody of the child.
(d) Any person who has been convicted of felony parental
child sexual abuse who violates subsection (2) (a) hereof shall, upon
conviction, be punished by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than
one (1) year. Any person who has been convicted of felony parental child sexual
abuse who violates subsection (2) (b) hereof shall, upon conviction, be
punished by imprisonment in the state penitentiary for not more than five (5)
years.
(3) No person who has been convicted of felony
parental child sexual abuse shall be entitled to have parental or other
visitation rights as to that child who was the victim, unless he or she files a
petition in the chancery court of the county in which the child resides,
reciting the conviction, and joining as parties defendant any other parent,
guardian, person standing in loco parentis or having legal or physical custody
of the child. A guardian ad litem shall be appointed to represent the child at
petitioner's expense. The court shall appoint a qualified psychologist or
psychiatrist to conduct an independent examination of the petitioner to
determine whether contact with that person poses a physical or emotional risk
to the child, and report to the court. Such examination shall be at
petitioner's expense. The court shall require any such petitioner to deposit
with the court sufficient funds to pay expenses chargeable to a petitioner
hereunder, the amount of such deposit to be within the discretion of the chancellor.
Any defendant and the child through his or her guardian ad litem shall be
entitled to a full evidentiary hearing on the petition. In no event shall a
child be required to testify in court or by deposition, or be subjected to any
psychological examination, without the express consent of the child through his
or her guardian ad litem. Such guardian ad litem shall consult with the child's
legal guardian or custodians before consenting to such testimony or
examination. At any hearing there is a rebuttable presumption that contact with
the child poses a physical and emotional risk to the child. That presumption
may be rebutted and visitation or contact allowed on such terms and conditions
that the chancery court shall set only upon specific written findings by the
court that:
(a) Contact between the child and the offending parent is
appropriate and poses minimal risk to the child;
(b) If the child has received counseling, that the child's
counselor believes such contact is in the child's best interest;
(c) The offending parent has successfully engaged in
treatment for sex offenders or is engaged in such treatment and making
progress; and
(d) The offending parent's treatment
provider believes contact with the child is appropriate and poses minimal risk
to the child. If the court, in its discretion, allows visitation or contact it
may impose such conditions to the visitation or contact which it finds
reasonable, including supervision of contact or visitation by a neutral and
independent adult with a detailed plan for supervision of any such contact or
visitation.
CHAPTER
29
CRIMES AGAINST PUBLIC MORALS AND DECENCY
§ 97-29-29. Incest; persons divorced for incest not to cohabit or copulate.
If persons divorced for incest shall, after such divorce,
cohabit or live together as man and wife, or be guilty of a single act of
adultery or fornication, such persons so offending shall be guilty of incest
and fined, on conviction, five hundred dollars or be imprisoned in the
penitentiary not longer than ten years or both
TITLE 99
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
CHAPTER 1
GENERAL PROVISIONS; TIME LIMITATIONS; COSTS
§ 99-1-5. Time
limitation on prosecutions.
A person shall not be prosecuted for any offense, with the
exception of murder, manslaughter, aggravated assault, kidnapping, arson,
burglary, forgery, counterfeiting, robbery, larceny, rape, embezzlement,
obtaining money or property under false pretenses or by fraud, felonious abuse
or battery of a child as described in Section 97-5-39, touching or handling a
child for lustful purposes as described in Section 97-5-23, sexual battery of a
child as described in Section 97-3-95(1) (c), (d) or (2) or exploitation of
children as described in Section 97-5-33, unless the prosecution for such
offense be commenced within two (2) years next after the commission thereof,
but nothing contained in this section shall bar any prosecution against any
person who shall abscond or flee from justice, or shall absent himself from
this state or out of the jurisdiction of the court, or so conduct himself that
he cannot be found by the officers of the law, or that process cannot be served
upon him.
§ 99-1-7. Time limitation on prosecutions; commencement of
prosecution.
A prosecution may be commenced, within the meaning of
Section 99-1-5 by the issuance of a warrant, or by binding over or recognizing
the offender to compel his appearance to answer the offense, as well as by
indictment or affidavit.
§ 99-1-9. Time limitation on
prosecutions; additional year allowed in certain cases.
When an indictment shall be lost or destroyed, or quashed
or abated, or the judgment thereon arrested or reversed for any defect therein
or in the record, or for any matter of form or other cause, not being an
acquittal on the merits, the further time of one year from the time when such
indictment shall be lost, destroyed, quashed or abated, or the judgment thereon
arrested or reversed, shall be allowed for the finding of a new
indictment.
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