South Carolina General Assembly
118th Session, 2009-2010

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H. 4735

STATUS INFORMATION

General Bill
Sponsors: Rep. Sellers
Document Path: l:\council\bills\ms\7754ahb10.docx

Introduced in the House on March 10, 2010
Currently residing in the House Committee on Judiciary

Summary: Sexual battery against a student

HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

     Date      Body   Action Description with journal page number
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   3/10/2010  House   Introduced and read first time HJ-70
   3/10/2010  House   Referred to Committee on Judiciary HJ-70

View the latest legislative information at the LPITS web site

VERSIONS OF THIS BILL

3/10/2010

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A BILL

TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING SECTION 16-3-760 SO AS TO DEFINE CERTAIN TERMS FOR PURPOSES OF THE SECTION AND TO PROVIDE AN ENHANCED PENALTY FOR PERSONS AFFILIATED WITH A SCHOOL IN AN OFFICIAL CAPACITY WHO COMMIT SEXUAL BATTERY AGAINST A STUDENT.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION    1.    Article 7, Chapter 3, Title 16 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:

"Section 16-3-760.    (A)    For purposes of this section:

(1)    'Aggravated coercion' means that the person affiliated with a public or private secondary school in an official capacity threatens to use force or violence of a high and aggravated nature to overcome the student, if the student reasonably believes that the person has the present ability to carry out the threat, or threatens to retaliate in the future by the infliction of physical harm, kidnapping, or extortion, under circumstances of aggravation, against the student.

(2)    'Aggravated force' means that the person affiliated with a public or private secondary school in an official capacity uses physical force or physical violence of a high and aggravated nature to overcome the student or includes the threat of the use of a deadly weapon.

(3)    'Person affiliated with a public or private secondary school in an official capacity' means an administrator, teacher, substitute teacher, teacher's assistant, student teacher, law enforcement officer, school bus driver, guidance counselor, or coach who is affiliated with a public or private secondary school but is not a student enrolled in the school.

(4)    'Secondary school' means either a junior high school or a high school.

(5)    'Sexual battery' means sexual intercourse, cunnilingus, fellatio, anal intercourse, or any intrusion, however slight, of any part of a person's body or of any object into the genital or anal openings of another person's body, except when such intrusion is accomplished for medically recognized treatment or diagnostic purposes.

(6)    'Student' means a person who is enrolled in a school.

(B)    If a person affiliated with a public or private secondary school in an official capacity engages in sexual battery with a student enrolled in the school who is sixteen or seventeen years of age and aggravated coercion or aggravated force is not used to accomplish the sexual battery, the person affiliated with the public or private secondary school in an official capacity is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, must be imprisoned for not more than five years.

(C)    If a person affiliated with a public or private secondary school in an official capacity engages in sexual battery with a student enrolled in the school who is eighteen years of age or older and aggravated coercion or aggravated force is not used to accomplish the sexual battery, the person affiliated with the public or private secondary school in an official capacity is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than five hundred dollars or imprisoned for thirty days, or both.

(D)    This section does not apply if the person affiliated with a public or private secondary school in an official capacity is lawfully married to the student at the time of the act."

SECTION    2.    The repeal or amendment by this act of any law, whether temporary or permanent or civil or criminal, does not affect pending actions, rights, duties, or liabilities founded thereon, or alter, discharge, release or extinguish any penalty, forfeiture, or liability incurred under the repealed or amended law, unless the repealed or amended provision shall so expressly provide. After the effective date of this act, all laws repealed or amended by this act must be taken and treated as remaining in full force and effect for the purpose of sustaining any pending or vested right, civil action, special proceeding, criminal prosecution, or appeal existing as of the effective date of this act, and for the enforcement of rights, duties, penalties, forfeitures, and liabilities as they stood under the repealed or amended laws.

SECTION    3.    This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

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This web page was last updated on Monday, October 10, 2011 at 12:25 P.M.