Senate Bill No. 231

(By Senator Jenkins)

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[Introduced January 8, 2014; referred to the Select Committee on Children and Poverty; and then to the Committee on the Judiciary.]

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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §61-11-27, relating to requiring an additional five years of incarceration when using a minor in the commission of a crime.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

    That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §61-11-27, to read as follows:

ARTICLE 11. GENERAL PROVISIONS CONCERNING CRIMES.

§61-11-27. Additional punishment for using minor in commission of crime.

    Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the contrary, when a person age twenty-one years or older is convicted of an offense that provides for a punishment of confinement in a state correctional facility, and it is determined that the convicted person used a minor age fifteen years or younger to facilitate the commission of the offense, irrespective of whether the minor had actual knowledge of participating in the crime, the court shall add five years to the term of incarceration which the person is or would be otherwise sentenced. This additional time is mandatory.

    NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to add five years to the term of incarceration to which a person would otherwise be sentenced for using a minor in the commission of a crime.

    This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.