Bill Text: IN SB0220 | 2013 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Sex offenders and social media.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-01-28 - Senator Merritt added as first author [SB0220 Detail]
Download: Indiana-2013-SB0220-Amended.html
Citations Affected: IC 35-31.5; IC 35-42.
Synopsis: Sex offenders and social media. Provides that a person who
has been convicted of: (1) child molesting as a Class A felony; or (2)
child solicitation; commits a sex offender Internet offense if the person
knowingly or intentionally uses a social networking web site or an
instant messaging or chat room program and knows that persons less
than 18 years of age are allowed to access or use the social networking
web site or instant messaging or chat room program. Specifies that an
offender against children who knowingly or intentionally uses a social
networking web site or an instant messaging or chat room program to
communicate with a child less than 16 years of age without the
permission of the child's parent or guardian commits a sex offender
Internet offense. Provides that a sex offender Internet offense is a Class
A misdemeanor or, if the person has a prior unrelated conviction of a
sex offender Internet offense, a Class D felony. Establishes certain
defenses.
Effective: July 1, 2013.
January 7, 2013, read first time and referred to Committee on Rules and Legislative
Procedure.
January 28, 2013, amended; reassigned to Committee on Corrections & Criminal Law.
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A BILL FOR AN ACT to amend the Indiana Code concerning
criminal law and procedure.
(1) The person is not more than:
(A) four (4) years older than the victim if the offense was committed after June 30, 2007; or
(B) five (5) years older than the victim if the offense was committed before July 1, 2007.
(2) The relationship between the person and the victim was a dating relationship or an ongoing personal relationship. The term "ongoing personal relationship" does not include a family relationship.
(3) The crime:
(A) was not committed by a person who is at least twenty-one (21) years of age;
(B) was not committed by using or threatening the use of deadly force;
(C) was not committed while armed with a deadly weapon;
(D) did not result in serious bodily injury;
(E) was not facilitated by furnishing the victim, without the victim's knowledge, with a drug (as defined in IC 16-42-19-2(1)) or a controlled substance (as defined in IC 35-48-1-9) or knowing that the victim was furnished with the drug or controlled substance without the victim's knowledge; and
(F) was not committed by a person having a position of authority or substantial influence over the victim.
(1) facilitates the social introduction between two (2) or more persons;
(2) requires a person to register or create an account, a username, or a password to become a member of the web site and to communicate with other members;
(3) allows a member to create a web page or a personal profile; and
(4) provides a member with the opportunity to communicate with another person.
The term does not include an electronic mail program or message board program.
(d) This subsection applies only to a person convicted of:
(1) child molesting as a Class A felony (IC 35-42-4-3);
(2) child solicitation (IC 35-42-4-6);
(3) an attempt or conspiracy to commit an offense listed in subdivision (1) or (2); or
(4) an offense in another jurisdiction that is substantially similar to an offense described in subdivisions (1) through (3).
A person to whom this subsection applies who knowingly or intentionally uses a social networking web site or an instant messaging or chat room program and who knows that persons less than eighteen (18) years of age are allowed to access or use use the social networking web site or instant messaging or chat room program commits a sex offender Internet offense, a Class A
misdemeanor. However, the offense is a Class D felony if the
person has a prior unrelated conviction under this section.
(e) This subsection applies only to an offender against children
(as defined in IC 35-42-4-11). A person to whom this subsection
applies who knowingly or intentionally uses:
(1) a social networking web site; or
(2) an instant messaging or chat room program;
to communicate with a child less than sixteen (16) years of age
without the permission of the child's parent or guardian commits
a sex offender Internet offense, a Class A misdemeanor. However,
the offense is a Class D felony if the person has a prior unrelated
conviction under this section.
(f) It is a defense to a prosecution under this section subsection (d)
that the person:
(1) did not know that the web site or program allowed a person
who is less than eighteen (18) years of age to access or use the
web site or program; and
(2) upon discovering that the web site or program allows a person
who is less than eighteen (18) years of age to access or use the
web site or program, immediately ceased further use or access of
the web site or program.
(g) It is a defense to a prosecution under subsection (e) that the
person reasonably believed that the child was at least sixteen (16)
years of age at the time the communication occurred.
