SB 1954

Present law makes it a Class A felony offense to commit continuous sexual abuse of a child. A person commits continuous sexual abuse of a child if the person engages in multiple acts of sexual abuse of a child over a period of at least 90 days. This bill, instead, provides that a person commits continuous sexual abuse of a child if the person engages in multiple acts of sexual abuse of a child over a period of at least 30 days. As used in this bill, "multiple acts of sexual abuse of a child"" m eans engaging in three or more incidents of sexual abuse of one or more minor children on separate occasions, at least one such incident must have occurred on or after July 1, 2026. Further, the victims of the incidents or the incidents themselves must s ha re distinctive, common characteristics, qualities, or circumstances with respect to each other or to the person committing the offenses, allowing otherwise individual offenses to merge into a single continuing offense. In order to convict a person of continuous sexual abuse of a child, this bill requires the jury to agree unanimously that during a period that is at least 30 days or more in duration, the defendant committed multiple acts of sexual abuse of a child."