House Bill 605

AN ACT TO CREATE THE CRIME OF INDECENT ASSAULT; TO PROVIDE PENALTIES FOR THE CRIME; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. (1) The following terms shall have the following meanings described in this section:

(a) "Incapacitated" means a circumstance in which the victim is physically incapable of indicating their unwillingness or willingness to consent or if the victim did not have the mental ability to understand the nature of the sexual act before, after or during the act.

(b) "Intimate part" means and includes any sexual organ, such as penis, anus, groin, buttocks of any person and female breasts.

(c) "Touches" means the physical contact with the skin of another person whether accomplished directly or through clothing, or with the offender's body parts or a foreign object.

SECTION 2. A person is guilty of indecent assault if the person intentionally touches an intimate part of another person for the purpose of sexual arousal, sexual gratification or sexual abuse: (a) while that person is unlawfully restrained by the accused or an accomplice, (b) against the will of the person who is touched, (c)while the person who is being touched is unconscious or incapacitated or (d) unlawfully coerced the person being touched. Upon conviction, he or she shall be punished by a fine of not more than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) or by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than six (6) months, or both.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2022.