Statute Targets Child Sexual Predators
INDIANAPOLIS, IN—Indiana lawmakers passed legislation specifically addressing the widespread problem of adults grooming children. The new law, which went into effect July 1st, makes it a Class B misdemeanor for an adult to (1) knowingly or intentionally communicate with a child believed to be less than 14 years old about sexual activity “with the intent to gratify the sexual desires” of the adult, or for an adult to (2) engage in a pattern of contact with a child believed to be less than 14 years old with the intent to condition the child “to be less resistant to future sexual conduct or…activity.” The offense is a Class A misdemeanor if the adult uses a computer network in the commission of the offense and a Level 6 felony if the adult has a prior conviction for a sex crime.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” said MJC partner and se* *buse attorney Tom Blessing, who represents survivors of SA. According to Blessing, “Before this law was passed, we didn’t have a law in Indiana which expressly criminalized ‘grooming’—even though everybody knows what grooming means. The new law gives prosecutors one more tool to charge people who groom children for se* *buse; they used to be limited to using our child solicitation and child seduction statutes.” Blessing welcomes the new law but said there’s room for improvement. “A child is anyone under the age of eighteen, so I’d like to see a law which applies to children ages fourteen and older.”