Senate Bill 2758

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 97-37-21, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CREATE THE CRIME OF INDUCING PANIC; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 97-37-21, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

97-37-21. (1) It shall be unlawful for any person:

(a) To report to another by any means, including telephone, mail, e-mail, mobile phone, fax or any means of communication, that a fire, bomb or other explosive or chemical, biological or other weapons of mass destruction has been, or is to be, placed or secreted in any public or private place, or that any other catastrophe is impending, knowing that such report is false * * *.; or

(b) Threaten to commit any offense or violent act in a public place; or

(c) To commit any offense or act in a public place, with reckless disregard of the likelihood that its commission will cause serious public panic, inconvenience, alarm, or disruption to a business or government function, shall be guilty of a felony and upon conviction. * * *~~Any~~ A person who * * *~~shall be~~ is convicted of a violation of this subsection (1) shall be fined not more than Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) or shall be committed to the custody of the Department of Corrections for not more than * * *~~ten (10)~~ twenty (20) years, or both.

(2) A person who causes the evacuation of any public place, or causes serious public panic, inconvenience or alarm by committing a violation of subsection (1) of this section is guilty of inducing panic and upon conviction shall be sentenced as follows:

(a) If physical harm is caused to any person by a violation of this subsection (2), upon conviction, he or she shall be fined not less than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) nor more than Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) or shall be committed to the custody of the Department of Corrections for not less than three (3) years nor more than twenty (20) years, or both;

(b) If the public place involved in the violation of this section is a public or private school, university, college, or junior college; business, charity or government building or location where the purpose of an aforementioned entity is transacted; or a place of worship, upon conviction, he or she shall be fined not less than Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) nor more than Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00) or shall be committed to the custody of the Department of Corrections for not less than five (5) years nor more than twenty-five (25) years, or both;

(c) If a violation of this section results in economic harm in excess of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), upon conviction, he or she shall be assessed a fine within the discretion of the court, in an amount not to exceed the total amount of economic harm, or shall be committed to the custody of the Department of Corrections for not less than one (1) year nor more than ten (10) years, or both.

(3) This section does not apply to any person conducting a lawful or otherwise authorized fire or emergency drill.

(4) It is not a defense to a charge under this section that the offender did not possess or have the ability to use a bomb or other explosive or chemical, biological or other weapons of mass destruction or that what was represented to be a bomb or other explosive or chemical, biological or other weapons of mass destruction was not, in fact, that particular weapon represented.

(5) As used in this section:

(a) "Economic harm" means all direct, incidental and consequential pecuniary harm suffered by a victim as a result of criminal conduct and includes, but is not limited to:

(i) Wages, salaries or other compensation lost as a result of the criminal conduct;

(ii) Wages, salaries or other compensation paid to employees for time they were prevented from working as a result of the criminal conduct;

(iii) Costs incurred for the time that a business is shut down as a result of the criminal conduct;

(iv) Loss of value to tangible or intangible property that was damaged as a result of the criminal conduct;

(v) Costs incurred by the state or any political subdivision as a result of, or in responding to, the criminal conduct which is a violation of this section. including but not limited to first responders, law enforcement officers, and medical services personnel.

(b) "School," "college," "junior college" or "university" mean any public or private high school, middle school or elementary school or any school for which the Mississippi Department of Education prescribes minimum standards or any university, college or junior college accredited or regulated by the Board of Trustees of the Mississippi State Institution of Higher Learning, whether or not any instruction, extracurricular activities, or training provided by the school is being conducted at the time a violation of this section is committed.

(c) "Public place" means any school, university, college, junior college. any business, including, but not limited to, private enterprise, corporate or partnership or individual business operation, charity or government building or location where the purpose of the aforementioned entity, charity or government is transacted.

(d) "Weapon of mass destruction" means any of the following:

(i) Any weapon that is designed or intended to cause death or serious physical harm through the release, dissemination, or impact of toxic or poisonous chemicals, or their precursors, or any bomb, explosive. incendiary device, grenade, rocket, missile or other devise that can cause an explosion leading to the death of any person;

(ii) Any weapon involving a disease organism or biological agent; or

(iii) Any weapon that is designed to release radiation or radioactivity at a level dangerous to human life.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.