Family Crisis Services of Northwest Mississippi, Inc. Founded in October, 1992 as a Non-Profit Organization

Sexual Assault Laws and Penalties

Selected Child Abuse and Related Mississippi Laws

This is intended for use as a guide and is NOT a definitive resource. Remember that laws change frequently and that updated resources should be checked to insure the best possible information.

§ 43-21-353. Duty to inform state agencies and officials.
(1) Any attorney, physician, dentist, intern, resident, nurse, psychologist, social worker, child care giver, minister, law enforcement officer, public or private school employee or any other person having reasonable cause to suspect that a child is a neglected child or an abused child, shall cause an oral report to be made immediately by telephone or otherwise and followed as soon thereafter as possible by a report in writing to the Department of Human Services, and immediately a referral shall be made by the Department of Human Services to the youth court intake unit, which unit shall promptly comply with § 43-21-357. Where appropriate, the Department of Human Services shall additionally make a referral to the youth court prosecutor. Upon receiving a report that a child has been abused and that the abusive act would be a felony under state law, the Department of Human Services shall promptly notify the law enforcement agency in whose jurisdiction the abuse occurred and shall notify the district attorney's office within seventy-two (72) hours. The law enforcement agency shall investigate the reported abuse immediately and shall file a preliminary report with the district attorney's office within twenty-four (24) hours and shall file a final report with the district attorney's office within seventy-two (72) hours.
(2) Any report to the Department of Human Services shall contain the names and addresses of the child and his parents or other persons responsible for his care, if known, the child's age, the nature and extent of the child's injuries, including any evidence of previous injuries and any other information that might be helpful in establishing the cause of the injury and the identity of the perpetrator.
(3) The Department of Human Services shall maintain a statewide incoming wide-area telephone service or similar service for the purpose of receiving reports of suspected cases of child abuse; provided that any attorney, physician, dentist, intern, resident, nurse, psychologist, social worker, child care giver, minister, law enforcement officer or public or private school employee who is required to report under subsection (1) of this section shall report in the manner required in subsection (1).
(4) Reports of abuse and neglect made under this chapter and the identity of the reporter are confidential except when the court in which the investigation report is filed, in its discretion, determines the testimony of the person reporting to be material to a judicial proceeding.
(5) Reports made under subsection (1) of this section by the Department of Human Services to the law enforcement agency and to the district attorney's office shall include the following, if known to the department:
(a) The name and address of the child;
(b) The names and addresses of the parents;
(c) The name and address of the suspected perpetrator;
(d) The names and addresses of all witnesses, including the reporting party if a material witness to the abuse;
(e) A brief statement of the facts indicating that the child has been abused and any other information from the agency files or known to the social worker making the investigation, including medical records or other records, which may assist law enforcement or the district attorney in investigating and/or prosecuting the case; and
(f) What, if any, action is being taken by the Department of Human Services.
(6) In any investigation of a report made under this chapter of the abuse or neglect of a child as defined in § 43-21-105(m), the Department of Human Services may request the appropriate law enforcement officer with jurisdiction to accompany the department in its investigation, and in such cases the law enforcement officer shall comply with such request.
(7) Anyone who willfully violates any provision of this section shall be, upon being found guilty, punished by a fine not to exceed Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), or by imprisonment in jail not to exceed one (1) year, or both.
(8) If a report is made directly to the Department of Human Services that a child has been abused or neglected in an out-of-home setting, a referral shall be made immediately to the law enforcement agency in whose jurisdiction the abuse occurred and the department shall notify the district attorney's office within seventy-two (72) hours. The law enforcement agency shall investigate the reported abuse immediately and shall file a preliminary report with the district attorney's office within twenty-four (24) hours and shall file a final report with the district attorney's office within seventy-two (72) hours. If the out-of-home setting is a licensed facility, an additional referral shall be made by the Department of Human Services to the licensing agency.

§ 43-21-355. Immunity for reporting information.
Any attorney, physician, dentist, intern, resident, nurse, psychologist, social worker, child care giver, minister, law enforcement officer, school attendance officer, public school district employee, nonpublic school employee, or any other person participating in the making of a required report pursuant to § 43-21-353 or participating in the judicial proceeding resulting therefrom shall be presumed to be acting in good faith. Any person or institution reporting in good faith shall be immune from any liability, civil or criminal, that might otherwise be incurred or imposed.

§ 97-3-95. Sexual battery.
(1) A person is guilty of sexual battery if he or she engages in sexual penetration with:
(a) Another person without his or her consent;
(b) A mentally defective, mentally incapacitated or physically helpless person; or
(c) A child at least fourteen (14) but under sixteen (16) years of age, if the person is thirty-six (36) or more months older than the child; or
(d) A child under the age of fourteen (14) years of age, if the person is twenty-four (24) or more months older than the child.
(2) A person is guilty of sexual battery if he or she engages in sexual penetration with a child under the age of eighteen (18) years if the person is in a position of trust or authority over the child including without limitation the child's teacher, counselor, physician, psychiatrist, psychologist, minister, priest, physical therapist, chiropractor, legal guardian, parent, stepparent, aunt, uncle, scout leader or coach.

§ 97-3-101. Sexual battery; penalty.
(1) Every person who shall be convicted of sexual battery under § 97-3-95(1)(a), (b), or (2) shall be imprisoned in the State Penitentiary for a period of not more than thirty (30) years, and for a second or subsequent such offense shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary for not more than forty (40) years.
(2) (a) Every person who shall be convicted of sexual battery under § 97-3-95(1)(c) who is at least eighteen (18) but under twenty-one (21) years of age shall be imprisoned for not more than five (5) years in the State Penitentiary or fined not more than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), or both;
(b) Every person who shall be convicted of sexual battery under § 97-3-95(1)(c) who is twenty-one (21) years of age or older shall be imprisoned not more than thirty (30) years in the State Penitentiary or fined not more than Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00), or both, for the first offense, and not more than forty (40) years in the State Penitentiary for each subsequent offense.
(3) Every person who shall be convicted of sexual battery under § 97-3-95(1)(d) who is eighteen (18) years of age or older shall be imprisoned for life in the State Penitentiary or such lesser term of imprisonment as the court may determine, but not less than twenty (20) years.
(4) Every person who shall be convicted of sexual battery who is thirteen (13) years of age or older but under eighteen (18) years of age shall be sentenced to such imprisonment, fine or other sentence as the court, in its discretion, may determine.

§ 97-5-23. Touching, handling, etc., child, mentally defective or incapacitated person or physically helpless person.
(1) Any person above the age of eighteen (18) years, who, for the purpose of gratifying his or her lust, or indulging his or her depraved licentious sexual desires, shall handle, touch or rub with hands or any part of his or her body or any member thereof, any child under the age of sixteen (16) years, with or without the child's consent, or a mentally defective, mentally incapacitated or physically helpless person as defined in § 97-3-97, shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined in a sum not less than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) nor more than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), or be committed to the custody of the State Department of Corrections not less than two (2) years nor more than fifteen (15) years, or be punished by both such fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the court.
(2) Any person above the age of eighteen (18) years, who, for the purpose of gratifying his or her lust, or indulging his or her depraved licentious sexual desires, shall handle, touch or rub with hands or any part of his or her body or any member thereof, any child younger than himself or herself and under the age of eighteen (18) years who is not such person's spouse, with or without the child's consent, when the person occupies a position of trust or authority over the child shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined in a sum not less than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) nor more than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), or be committed to the custody of the State Department of Corrections not less than two (2) years nor more than fifteen (15) years, or be punished by both such fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the court. A person in a position of trust or authority over a child includes without limitation a child's teacher, counselor, physician, psychiatrist, psychologist, minister, priest, physical therapist, chiropractor, legal guardian, parent, stepparent, aunt, uncle, scout leader or coach.
(3) Upon a second conviction for an offense under this section, the person so convicted shall be punished by commitment to the State Department of Corrections for a term not to exceed twenty (20) years, however, upon conviction and sentencing, the offender shall serve at least one-half (1/2) of the sentence so imposed.

§ 97-5-24. Sexual involvement of school employee with student; duty to report.
If any person eighteen (18) years or older who is employed by any public or private school district in this state is accused of fondling or having any type of sexual involvement with any child under the age of eighteen (18) years who is enrolled in such school, the principal of such school and the superintendent of such school district shall timely notify the district attorney with jurisdiction where the school is located of such accusation, provided that such accusation is reported to the principal and to the school superintendent and that there is a reasonable basis to believe that such accusation is true.

§ 97-5-27. Dissemination of sexually oriented material to persons under eighteen years of age.
(1) Any person who intentionally and knowingly disseminates sexually oriented material to any person under eighteen (18) years of age shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined for each offense not less than five hundred dollars ($500.00) nor more than five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) or be imprisoned for not more than one (1) year in the county jail, or be punished by both such fine and imprisonment. A person disseminates sexually oriented material within the meaning of this section if he:
(a) Sells, delivers or provides, or offers or agrees to sell, deliver or provide, any sexually oriented writing, picture, record or other representation or embodiment that is sexually oriented; or
(b) Presents or directs a sexually oriented play, dance or other performance or participates directly in that portion thereof which makes it sexually oriented; or
(c) Exhibits, presents, rents, sells, delivers or provides, or offers or agrees to exhibit, present, rent or to provide any sexually oriented still or motion picture, film, filmstrip or projection slide, or sound recording, sound tape or sound track or any matter or material of whatever form which is a representation, embodiment, performance or publication that is sexually oriented.
(2) For purposes of this section, any material is sexually oriented if the material contains representations or descriptions, actual or simulated, of masturbation, sodomy, excretory functions, lewd exhibition of the genitals or female breasts, sadomasochistic abuse (for the purpose of sexual stimulation or gratification), homosexuality, lesbianism, bestiality, sexual intercourse, or physical contact with a person's clothed or unclothed genitals, pubic area, buttocks, or the breast or breasts of a female for the purpose of sexual stimulation, gratification or perversion.

§ 97-5-31. Exploitation of children; definitions.
As used in §§ 97-5-33 to 97-5-37, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings given to them in this section:
(a) "Child" means any individual who has not attained the age of eighteen (18) years.
(b) "Sexually explicit conduct" means actual or simulated:
(i) Sexual intercourse, including genital-genital, oral-genital, anal-genital, or oral-anal, whether between persons of the same or opposite sex;
(ii) Bestiality;
(iii) Masturbation;
(iv) Sadistic or masochistic abuse;
(v) Lascivious exhibition of the genitals or pubic area of any person; or
(vi) Fondling or other erotic touching of the genitals, pubic area, buttocks, anus or breast.
(c) "Producing" means producing, directing, manufacturing, issuing, publishing, or advertising.
(d) "Visual depiction" includes without limitation developed or undeveloped film and videotape or computer generated or displayed images.
(e) "Computer" has the meaning given in Title 18, United States Code, § 1030.

§ 97-5-33. Exploitation of children; prohibitions.
(1) No person shall, by any means including computer, cause or knowingly permit any child to engage in sexually explicit conduct or in the simulation of sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing any visual depiction of such conduct.
(2) No person shall photograph, draw, sketch, film, video tape or otherwise depict or record a child engaging in sexually explicit conduct or in the simulation of sexually explicit conduct.
(3) No person shall knowingly send, transport, transmit, ship, mail or receive any photograph, drawing, sketch, film, video tape or other visual depiction depicting a child engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
(4) No person shall receive with intent to distribute, distribute for sale, sell or attempt to sell in any manner any photograph, drawing, sketch, film or video tape which depicts a child engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
(5) No person shall possess any photograph, drawing, sketch, film or video tape which depicts a child engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

§ 97-5-35. Exploitation of children; penalties.
Any person who violates any provision of § 97-5-33 shall be guilty of a felony and upon conviction shall pay a fine of not less than Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00) nor more than One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00) and shall be imprisoned for not less than two (2) years nor more than twenty (20) years. Any person convicted of a second or subsequent violation of § 97-5-33 shall pay a fine of not less than Seventy-five Thousand Dollars ($75,000.00) and shall be imprisoned not less than ten (10) years nor more than thirty (30) years.

§ 97-5-39. Contributing to the neglect or delinquency of a child; felonious abuse and/or battery of a child.
(1) Any parent, guardian or other person who willfully commits any act or omits the performance of any duty, which act or omission contributes to or tends to contribute to the neglect or delinquency of any child or which act or omission results in the abuse and/or battering of any child, as defined in § 43-21-105 (m) of the Youth Court Law or who knowingly aids any child in escaping or absenting himself from the guardianship or custody of any person, agency or institution, or knowingly harbors or conceals or aids in harboring or concealing any child who has absented himself without permission from the guardianship or custody of any person, agency or institution to which such child shall have been committed by the youth court shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine not to exceed One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or by imprisonment not to exceed one (1) year in jail, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
(2) Any person who shall intentionally (a) burn any child, (b) torture any child or, (c) except in self-defense or in order to prevent bodily harm to a third party, whip, strike or otherwise abuse or mutilate any child in such a manner as to cause serious bodily harm, shall be guilty of felonious abuse and/or battery of a child and, upon conviction, may be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary for not more than twenty (20) years.
(3) Nothing contained in this section shall prevent proceedings against such parent, guardian or other person under any statute of this state or any municipal ordinance defining any act as a crime or misdemeanor. Nothing in the provisions of this section shall preclude any person from having a right to trial by jury when charged with having violated the provisions of this section.
(4) After consultation with the Department of Public Welfare, a regional mental health center or an appropriate professional person, a judge may suspend imposition or execution of a sentence provided in subsections (1) and (2) of this section and in lieu thereof require treatment over a specified period of time at any approved public or private treatment facility.
(5) In any proceeding resulting from a report made pursuant to § 43-21-353 of the Youth Court Law, the testimony of the physician making the said report regarding the child's injuries or condition or cause thereof shall not be excluded on the ground that such physician's testimony violates the physician-patient privilege or similar privilege or rule against disclosure. The physician's report shall not be considered as evidence unless introduced as an exhibit to his testimony.
(6) Any criminal prosecution arising from a violation of this section shall be tried in the circuit, county, justice or municipal court having jurisdiction; provided, however, that nothing herein shall abridge or dilute the contempt powers of the youth court.

§ 97-5-40. Condoning child abuse.
(1) Any parent, guardian, custodian, stepparent or any other person who lives in the household with a child, who knowingly condones an incident of felonious child abuse of that child, which consists of one or more violations of (a) subsection (2) of § 97-5-39 or (b) felonious sexual battery of that child, which consists of one or more violations of § 97-3-95 shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than one (1) year or by a fine of not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or both.
(2) A person shall not be considered to have condoned child abuse merely because such person does not report an act of child abuse.
(3) The provisions of this section shall be in addition to any other criminal law.

§ 97-5-41. Carnal knowledge of step or adopted child; carnal knowledge of child by cohabitating partner.
(1) Any person who shall have carnal knowledge of his or her unmarried stepchild or adopted child younger than himself or herself and over fourteen (14) and under eighteen (18) years of age, upon conviction, shall be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term not exceeding ten (10) years.
(2) Any person who shall have carnal knowledge of an unmarried child younger than himself or herself and over fourteen (14) and under eighteen (18) years of age, with whose parent he or she is cohabiting or living together as husband and wife, upon conviction, shall be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term not exceeding ten (10) years.

§ 97-5-42. Protection of children from parents convicted of felony child sexual abuse; creation of local registry; penalties; standards for visitation.
(1) (a) For purposes of this act, a conviction of felony parental child sexual abuse shall include any nolo contendere plea, guilty plea or conviction at trial to any offense enumerated in § 93-15-103(3)(g) or any other statute of the State of Mississippi whereby a parent may be penalized as a felon on account of sexual abuse of his or her own child; and shall include any conviction by plea or trial in any other state of the United States to an offense whereby a parent may be penalized as a felon for sexual abuse of his or her own child under the laws of that state, or which would be so penalized for such conduct had the act or acts been committed in the State of Mississippi.
(b) A certified copy of the court order or judgment evidencing such a conviction shall be accepted by any public office with responsibilities pursuant to this act, and by any court in the State of Mississippi, as conclusive evidence of the conviction.
(2) (a) No person who has been convicted of felony parental child sexual abuse shall contact or attempt to contact the victim child without the prior express written permission of the child's then legal custodian, who may be the other parent, a guardian, person in loco parentis or person with legal or physical custody of a child.
(b) No person who has been convicted of felony parental child sexual abuse shall harass, threaten, intimidate or by any other means menace the victim child or any legal custodian of the child, who may be the other parent, a guardian, person in loco parentis or person with legal or physical custody of a child.
(c) Any person who believes that a person who has been convicted of felony parental child sexual abuse may violate the provisions of subsection (2)(a) or (2)(b) hereof may register with the sheriff and any municipal law enforcement agency of the child's county and municipality of residence, setting forth the factual basis for that belief which shall include a certified copy of the court order or judgment evidencing the conviction of the child sexual abuse felon. The sheriff's office of each county and all municipal law enforcement agencies shall maintain a separate and distinct register for the purpose of recording the data required herein, and shall advise the reporting party of how emergency contact can be made with that office at any time with respect to a threatened violation of subsection (2)(a) or (2)(b) hereof. Immediate response with police protection shall be provided to any emergency contact made pursuant to this section, which police protection shall be continued in such reasonable manner as to deter future violations and protect the child and any person with legal custody of the child.
(d) Any person who has been convicted of felony parental child sexual abuse who violates subsection (2)(a) hereof shall, upon conviction, be punished by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one (1) year. Any person who has been convicted of felony parental child sexual abuse who violates subsection (2)(b) hereof shall, upon conviction, be punished by imprisonment in the state penitentiary for not more than five (5) years.
(3) No person who has been convicted of felony parental child sexual abuse shall be entitled to have parental or other visitation rights as to that child who was the victim, unless he or she files a petition in the chancery court of the county in which the child resides, reciting the conviction, and joining as parties defendant any other parent, guardian, person standing in loco parentis or having legal or physical custody of the child. A guardian ad litem shall be appointed to represent the child at petitioner's expense. The court shall appoint a qualified psychologist or psychiatrist to conduct an independent examination of the petitioner to determine whether contact with that person poses a physical or emotional risk to the child, and report to the court. Such examination shall be at petitioner's expense. The court shall require any such petitioner to deposit with the court sufficient funds to pay expenses chargeable to a petitioner hereunder, the amount of such deposit to be within the discretion of the chancellor. Any defendant and the child through his or her guardian ad litem shall be entitled to a full evidentiary hearing on the petition. In no event shall a child be required to testify in court or by deposition, or be subjected to any psychological examination, without the express consent of the child through his or her guardian ad litem. Such guardian ad litem shall consult with the child's legal guardian or custodians before consenting to such testimony or examination. At any hearing there is a rebuttable presumption that contact with the child poses a physical and emotional risk to the child. That presumption may be rebutted and visitation or contact allowed on such terms and conditions that the chancery court shall set only upon specific written findings by the court that:
(a) Contact between the child and the offending parent is appropriate and poses minimal risk to the child;
(b) If the child has received counseling, that the child's counselor believes such contact is in the child's best interest;
(c) The offending parent has successfully engaged in treatment for sex offenders or is engaged in such treatment and making progress; and
(d) The offending parent's treatment provider believes contact with the child is appropriate and poses minimal risk to the child. If the court, in its discretion, allows visitation or contact it may impose such conditions to the visitation or contact which it finds reasonable, including supervision of contact or visitation by a neutral and independent adult with a detailed plan for supervision of any such contact or visitation.