MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2022 Regular Session
To: Judiciary, Division B
By: Senator(s) Fillingane, England, Blackwell, Sparks, Moran, Seymour, Whaley, Chism, McCaughn, Branning, McLendon, Parker, Caughman, Hill, Tate, Barrett, Younger, McMahan
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 97-5-35, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROHIBIT SUSPENSION OF THE SENTENCE OF AN OFFENDER IN A CASE INVOLVING THE EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN; TO BRING FORWARD SECTION 97-5-31, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, FOR PURPOSES OF POSSIBLE AMENDMENT; 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. The five-year mandatory sentence shall not be reduced or suspended. The person shall not be eligible for probation or parole notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary.
SECTION 2. Section 97-5-31, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
97-5-31. 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) Oral genital contact, oral anal contact, or sexual intercourse as defined in Section 97-3-65, 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.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2022, and shall stand repealed on June 30, 2022.