ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 148
(By Senators Tomblin, Mr. President, and Buckalew,
By Request of the Executive)
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[Passed March 14, 1998; in effect ninety days from passage.]
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AN ACT to amend and reenact section five, article eight-d,
chapter sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating generally to
criminal penalties for engaging or procuring another to
engage in sexual misconduct with a child; adding parents to
persons to whom the criminal penalties apply; and increasing
the penalties against a parent, guardian or custodian who
engages or procures another person to engage in sexual
misconduct with a child.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section five, article eight-d, chapter sixty-one of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 8D. CHILD ABUSE.
§61-8D-5. Sexual abuse by a parent, guardian or custodian; parent, guardian or custodian allowing sexual abuse to be
inflicted upon a child; displaying of sex organs by a
parent, guardian or custodian; penalties.
(a) In addition to any other offenses set forth in this
code, the Legislature hereby declares a separate and distinct
offense under this subsection, as follows: If any parent,
guardian or custodian of a child under his or her care, custody
or control, shall engage in or attempt to engage in sexual
exploitation of, or in sexual intercourse, sexual intrusion or
sexual contact with, a child under his or her care, custody or
control, notwithstanding the fact that the child may have
willingly participated in such conduct, or the fact that the
child may have consented to such conduct or the fact that the
child may have suffered no apparent physical injury or mental or
emotional injury as a result of such conduct, then such parent,
guardian or custodian shall be guilty of a felony and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary not
less than ten nor more than twenty years, or fined not less than
five hundred nor more than five thousand dollars and imprisoned
in the penitentiary not less than ten years nor more than twenty
years.
(b) If any parent, guardian or custodian shall knowingly
procure another person to engage in or attempt to engage in
sexual exploitation of, or sexual intercourse, sexual intrusion
or sexual contact with, a child under the care, custody or control of such parent, guardian or custodian when such child is
less than sixteen years of age, notwithstanding the fact that the
child may have willingly participated in such conduct or the fact
that the child may have suffered no apparent physical injury or
mental or emotional injury as a result of such conduct, such
parent, guardian or custodian shall be guilty of a felony and,
upon conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary
not less than five years nor more than fifteen years, or fined
not less than one thousand nor more than ten thousand dollars and
imprisoned in the penitentiary not less than five years nor more
than fifteen years.
(c) If any parent, guardian or custodian shall knowingly
procure another person to engage in or attempt to engage in
sexual exploitation of, or sexual intercourse, sexual intrusion
or sexual contact with, a child under the care, custody or
control of such parent, guardian or custodian when such child is
sixteen years of age or older, notwithstanding the fact that the
child may have consented to such conduct or the fact that the
child may have suffered no apparent physical injury or mental or
emotional injury as a result of such conduct, then such parent,
guardian or custodian shall be guilty of a felony and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary not
less than one year nor more than five years.
(d) The provisions of this section shall not apply to a
custodian whose age exceeds the age of the child by less than four years.