Law enforcement
Sexual battery
Sexual battery committed after entering someone’s inhabited home or similar living space without consent can now be charged as a felony.
The law creates heightened criminal penalties for sexual battery committed inside a residence entered without permission, recognizing the added invasion of a person’s home.
What the law does
- Makes sexual battery committed after nonconsensual entry into an inhabited house, trailer coach, or inhabited part of another building punishable as either a felony or a misdemeanor.
- Authorizes a felony sentence of two, three, or four years in state prison and a fine up to $10,000, or a county-jail sentence up to one year and a fine up to $5,000.
- Updates cross-references in psychotherapist disclosure and civil-liability laws to use the Penal Code’s definitions of intimate part and touching.
Who it affects
- People who commit sexual battery after entering an inhabited residence or living area without consent.
- Victims of sexual battery in their homes or other inhabited living spaces.
- Psychotherapists and clients involved in disclosure or civil claims concerning sexual contact by a psychotherapist.
Context
The bill does not require state reimbursement to local governments for costs arising from the new crime or changed penalty.