Bill Text: MS SB2245 | 2022 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Voyeurism; revise sentencing.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 5-0)
Status: (Passed) 2022-04-14 - Approved by Governor [SB2245 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2022-SB2245-Enrolled.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2022 Regular Session
To: Judiciary, Division B
By: Senator(s) Fillingane, Branning, Parker, Blackwell, McLendon
Senate Bill 2245
(As Sent to Governor)
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 97-29-61, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE SENTENCING OPTIONS FOR THE CRIME OF VOYEURISM; TO ENACT "BUDDY'S LAW"; TO REQUIRE A CHILD ADJUDICATED DELINQUENT OF CERTAIN OFFENSES AGAINST A DOMESTICATED DOG OR CAT TO RECEIVE A PSYCHIATRIC EVALUATION AND COUNSELING OR TREATMENT FOR A LENGTH OF TIME PRESCRIBED BY THE YOUTH COURT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 97-29-61, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-29-61. (1) (a) Any person who enters upon real property, whether the original entry is legal or not, and thereafter pries or peeps through a window or other opening in a dwelling or other building structure for the lewd, licentious and indecent purpose of spying upon the occupants thereof, shall be guilty of a felonious trespass.
(b) Any person who looks through a window, hole or opening, or otherwise views by means of any instrumentality, including, but not limited to, a periscope, telescope, binoculars, drones, camera, motion-picture camera, camcorder or mobile phone, into the interior of a bedroom, bathroom, changing room, fitting room, dressing room, spa, massage room or therapy room or tanning booth, or the interior of any other area in which the occupant has a reasonable expectation of privacy, with the intent to invade the privacy of a person or persons inside and without the consent or knowledge of every person present, for the lewd, licentious and indecent purpose of spying upon the occupant or occupants thereof, shall be guilty of a felony.
(2) (a) Except as provided
in paragraph (b) of this subsection, a person who * * * is over the age of * * * eighteen (18) at
the time of the offense * * * who and is convicted of a violation of subsection (1)
of this section shall be imprisoned in the custody of the Department of
Corrections not more than five (5) years.
(b) When one or more occupants spied upon is a child under sixteen (16) years of age, a person who was over the age of twenty-one (21) at the time of the offense who is convicted of a violation of subsection (1) of this section shall be imprisoned in the custody of the Department of Corrections not more than ten (10) years.
SECTION 2. (1) This section shall be known and may be cited as "Buddy's Law."
(2) When a child is adjudicated delinquent of an offense involving the intentional torturing, mutilating, maiming, burning, starving to death, crushing, disfiguring, drowning, suffocating or impaling of a domesticated dog or cat as described in Section 97-14-16, the youth court shall order that the child adjudicated delinquent receives a psychiatric evaluation and counseling or treatment for a length of time as prescribed by the youth court. The cost of any evaluation, counseling and treatment shall be paid by the offender's parent or guardian, or by the state if the offender is a ward of the state, upon order of the youth court, up to a maximum amount that is no more than the jurisdictional limit of the sentencing court. The youth court shall hold the offender's parent or guardian in contempt under Section 43-21-509 if the parent or guardian willfully does not follow the recommended treatment for the offender.
(3) The Legislature does recognize that animal abuse by a child often leads to further criminal activity by the child as he or she ages. This activity is sometimes homicidal; however, it is the Legislature's intent that a mental health evaluation under this section is only required in extreme situations as prescribed in Section 97-14-16. Further, it is the intent of the Legislature that a minor offense of abuse of a cat or dog by a child shall not require a mental health evaluation unless the judge, after a hearing, shall determine if the evaluation is necessary.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2022.
