- Both chambers have taken the issue up this session, with Sen. Joey Fillingane saying the legislation is a “proactive approach” to protect the state’s children.
Mississippi could have stiffer criminal penalties for child grooming and electric images of children under the age of 16 after a Senate bill was voted off the floor last week.
The committee substitute of SB 2309 states that any person who is convicted of such a felony for the first time faces a fine of no less than $50,000 and no more than $500,000. The offender will also be sentenced to between five and 40 years.
For a second offense, the offender will be fined between $100,000 and $1 million. The offender would be sentenced to not less than 20 years.
The bill’s author, State Senator Joey Fillingane (R), described the bill as a “proactive approach.” He said the bill is modeled after a law in Georgia.
A similar bill criminalizing child grooming was filed in the House by State Rep. Janson Owen (R). His legislation – HB 1308 – also passed last week by a vote of 110 to 1.
During the Senate debate, Fillingane told his colleagues that one in four girls and one in 20 boys are sexually abused.
The bill reads, “No person shall, by any means including computer, knowingly send, transport, transmit, ship, mail or receive any photograph, drawing, sketch, film, video tape or other visual depiction of an actual child engaging in sexually explicit conduct.”
The 10-page measure passed unanimously in the Senate and has been referred to the Judiciary B Committee in the House of Representatives.
Owen’s House bill has been referred to the Senate Judiciary B Committee.
