Tuesday, December 2, 2008
The General Assembly is not in session.
Tracking Virginia’s General Assembly
since 2007.
HB969: Criminal street gangs; causing or encouraging acts rendering children delinquent.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §§ 8.01-226.5:2 and 18.2-371 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 8.01-226.5:2. Immunity of hospital or rescue squad personnel for the acceptance of certain infants.
Any personnel of a hospital or rescue squad receiving a child
under the circumstances described in subsection B D
of § 18.2-371, subdivision B 2 of § 18.2-371.1 or subsection B of § 40.1-103
shall be immune from civil liability or criminal prosecution for injury or
other damage to the child unless such injury or other damage is the result of
gross negligence or willful misconduct by such personnel.
§ 18.2-371. Causing or encouraging acts rendering children delinquent, abused, etc.; penalty; abandoned infant.
A. Any person 18 years of age or
older, including the parent of any child, who (i) willfully contributes to,
encourages, or causes any act, omission, or condition which renders a child
delinquent, in need of services, in need of supervision, or abused or neglected
as defined in § 16.1-228, or (ii) engages in consensual sexual intercourse with
a child 15 or older not his spouse, child, or grandchild, shall be is guilty
of a Class 1 misdemeanor.
B. Any person 18 years of age or older who engages in sexual intercourse with a child 15 years of age or older not his spouse, child, or grandchild as a part of initiation or recruitment into a criminal street gang is guilty of a Class 6 felony.
C. This section shall not be construed as repealing, modifying, or in any way affecting §§ 18.2-18, 18.2-19, 18.2-61, 18.2-63, 18.2-66, and 18.2-347.
D. If the prosecution under this section is based solely on the accused parent having left the child at a hospital or rescue squad, it shall be an affirmative defense to prosecution of a parent under this section that such parent safely delivered the child to a hospital that provides 24-hour emergency services or to an attended rescue squad that employs emergency medical technicians, within the first 14 days of the child's life. In order for the affirmative defense to apply, the child shall be delivered in a manner reasonably calculated to ensure the child's safety.
2. That the provisions of this act may result in a net increase in periods of imprisonment or commitment. Pursuant to § 30-19.1:4, the estimated amount of the necessary appropriation cannot be determined for periods of imprisonment in state adult correctional facilities and is $0 for periods of commitment to the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice.
Additional Data
Explanation
This is the actual text of the bill — the legislation itself. Generally this is amending existing law, proposing the addition or removal of words from laws that are already on the books.
Words that are highlighted in yellow are
proposed additions, and words that are crossed out in
red are proposed removals.
The numbers with the § symbol before them are references to existing laws, and if you click on them they’ll take you to that part of the law on the state's website.