PayDay
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- Joined
- Nov 15, 2011
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Caught this one in my local paper:
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ss...maker_introduces_bill_to_make_it_a_crime.html
I haven't found the actual text of NJ A3908 2014 yet, but I'll post it when I do.
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ss...maker_introduces_bill_to_make_it_a_crime.html
Earlier this month, state Assemblyman Troy Singleton (D-Burlington) introduced the bill (A3908), which would create the crime of “sexual assault by fraud,” which it defines as “an act of sexual penetration to which a person has given consent because the actor has misrepresented the purpose of the act or has represented he is someone he is not.”
...
“I truly believe that we have to look at the issue of rape as more than sexual contact without consent,” Singleton said. “Fraud invalidates any semblance of consent just as forcible sexual contact does. This legislation is designed to provide our state's judiciary with another tool to assess situations where this occurs and potentially provide a legal remedy to those circumstances.”
As written, the bill doesn’t consider sexual assault by fraud any less serious than other types of sexual assault that are already on the books. It could be a first degree or second degree crime depending on “the circumstances surrounding the act,” punishable with 10 to 20 years in prison in the former and 5 to 10 years in prison in the latter.
"The punishment aspect, that part we didn’t touch. The prosecutors and the judges and the jurors would be able to use discretion,” Singleton said.
Singleton said that he’s open to refining the bill so it’s not abused.
“It’s my intention, as the bill is moved through the amendment process, to ensure that while we allow for judicial discretion we don’t want unintended consequences,” he said.
I haven't found the actual text of NJ A3908 2014 yet, but I'll post it when I do.