MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2005 Regular Session
To: Judiciary, Division B
By: Senator(s) Tollison, Albritton, Burton, Butler, Clarke, Cuevas, Davis, Dawkins, Dearing, Flowers, Harvey, Hyde-Smith, Jackson (15th), Jackson (11th), Jackson (32nd), Jordan, King, Lee (47th), Lee (35th), Morgan, Nunnelee, Ross, Thames, Thomas, Walley, Walls
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 97-5-35, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE THE PENALTIES FOR EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN; TO AMEND SECTION 97-5-39, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE THE PENALTIES FOR FELONIOUS ABUSE OR BATTERY OF A CHILD; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 97-5-35, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-5-35. 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 * * *.
SECTION 2. Section 97-5-39, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-5-39. (1) 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 and/or battering 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 such 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.
(2) Any person who shall intentionally (a) burn any child, (b) torture any child, or (c) 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 and/or battery 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 (2), the person shall be sentenced to imprisonment for life.
(3) Nothing contained in this section shall prevent proceedings against such 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 Public Welfare, 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.
(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 said report regarding the child's injuries or condition or cause thereof shall not be excluded on the ground that such 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.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2005.