New Crime Bills Signed into Law with Budget

Governor Tom Wolf signed several crime bills into law with the 2019-2020 budget.

House Bill 315 criminalizes female genital mutilation, making it a first-degree felony. The new law also adds that custom and consent are not defenses to this crime.

House Bill 502 amends the Crime Victims Act. The Act now allows the victim to be present in all criminal proceedings unless the court determines the victim’s own testimony would be altered by hearing other witnesses. The reasons for the exclusion must be stated for the record.

House Bill 504 bans prosecutors from bringing up a victim’s sexual history or prior allegations of sexual abuse while prosecuting specific crimes including: assault, kidnapping, human trafficking, sexual offenses, incest, endangering welfare of children (if the offense involved sexual contact with the victim), corruption of minors, sexual abuse of children, unlawful contact with minor, and sexual exploitation of children. However, the Bill notes admissibility if it is “evidence of the alleged victim’s past sexual conduct with the defendant where consent of the alleged victim is at issue and such evidence is otherwise admissible pursuant to the rules of evidence.”

Senate Bill 399, updates the Sexual Assault Testing and Evidence Collection Act by requiring the Pennsylvania State Police to create procedures for anonymous victims and establishing timelines for submitting, testing, and storing rape kits. The Bill also gives new rights to the victims of sexual assault.

Senate Bill 469 establishes procedures for protecting victims and witnesses with intellectual disabilities or autism spectrum disorder. The Bill allows testimony and questioning to take place outside of a courtroom.

Senate Bill 479 amends the list of crimes for which an out of court statement is admissible if made by a child 12 or younger to include: homicide, assault, kidnapping, sexual offenses, human trafficking, burglary and other criminal intrusion, robbery, incest, endangering welfare of children (if the offense involved sexual contact with the
victim), corruption of minors, sexual abuse of children, unlawful contact with minor, and sexual exploitation of children. For the statement to be admissible, the court must find “that the evidence is relevant and that the time, content and circumstances of the statement provide sufficient indicia of reliability,” and the child must either testify at the proceeding or be declared unavailable.

If you have questions about how these new laws might affect you, contact us today.