MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2012 Regular Session
To: Judiciary, Division B
By: Senator(s) McDaniel, Jackson (11th), Simmons (12th), Watson, Hill, Jackson (15th)
AN ACT TO BE KNOWN AS "KAREN'S LAW"; TO AMEND SECTION 97-3-25, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE THE MAXIMUM IMPRISONMENT FOR PERSONS WHO WERE OVER THE AGE OF 21 WHEN CONVICTED OF THE HOMICIDE OF A CHILD OF A CERTAIN AGE; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 97-3-25, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-3-25. (1) Except as otherwise provided in this section, any person convicted of manslaughter shall be fined in a sum not less than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), or imprisoned in the county jail not more than one (1) year, or both, or in the custody of the Department of Corrections not less than two (2) years, nor more than twenty (20) years.
(2) (a) A person is guilty of child homicide if:
(i) The person is found guilty of manslaughter in circumstances where the killing, although without malice, was intentional and not accidental; and
(ii) The perpetrator was over the age of twenty-one (21) years and the victim was a child under the age of eighteen (18) years.
(b) A person found guilty of child homicide shall be imprisoned in the custody of the Department of Corrections for a term not to exceed thirty (30) years.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2012.