STAND

 

STAND. COM. REP. NO. 330-04

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: H.B. No. 2255

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 2255 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SEXUAL ASSAULT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to provide greater consistency between the elements constituting the criminal offenses of sexual assault in the second degree and sexual assault in the third degree, when the offense occurs in a correctional facility by an employee against a committed person.

Specifically, this measure clarifies that sexual assault in the second degree is committed when a person committed to the Director of Public Safety is subject to sexual penetration by a correctional facility employee or law enforcement officer.

Furthermore, this measure clarifies that sexual assault in the third degree is committed when a law enforcement officer has sexually contact with a committed person. The measure also clarifies that the offense is committed when a person confined to a detention facility or a person in custody is subject to sexual contact by a correctional facility employee or law enforcement officer. This measure also provides that criminalizing a law enforcement officer's sexual contact of a committed person shall not be construed to prohibit the officer from performing a lawful search.

Testimony in favor of the bill was received from the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu.

Your Committee finds that the primary difference between the offenses of sexual assault in the second degree and sexual assault in the third degree is that assault in the second degree involves sexual penetration while assault in the third degree involves, with one exception, sexual contact. However, with regard to situations in which the offenses are committed in a correctional facility, under the present law, the two offenses contain minor inconsistencies relating to the types of employees recognized as perpetrators and the types of committed persons recognized as victims under the present law.

Specifically, a person committed to the Director of Public Safety is recognized as a victim of sexual assault in the third degree but not of sexual assault in the second degree. On the other hand, a law enforcement officer is recognized as a perpetrator of sexual assault in the second degree but not of sexual assault in the third degree. Likewise, a person confined to a detention facility or a person in custody is recognized as a victim of sexual assault in the second degree but not of sexual assault in the third degree.

Your Committee finds that this measure is necessary to ensure that the offenses of sexual assault in the second and third degrees, occurring in a correctional facility, cover the same perpetrators and victims. In this manner, this measure will serve to further the public policy of discouraging sexual relations between employees at correctional facilities and the persons under their supervision.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2255 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

 

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs,

 

		____________________________ KEN ITO, Chair