Court Opinion

ID: 9769691
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 14:58:51.862751+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:56:07.867454
License: Public Domain

APPENDIX A HOUSE STUDY GROUP bill analysis 5/11/83 HB 2008 C. Evans (CSHB 2008 by Danburg)
SUBJECT: Redefinition of criminal sexual offenses
COMMITTEE: Criminal Jurisprudence: committee substitute recommended
VOTE: 8 ayes — Peveto, T. Smith, Waldrop, Burnett, Danburg, Granoff, Hernandez, S. Hudson
 *Page 937 
0 nays
1 absent — Hury
WITNESSES: None
DIGEST: This bill replaces "he" and "his" with gender-neutral terms in sections of the Penal Code dealing with assault and aggravated assault. New gender-neutral offenses are also created for "sexual assault" and "aggravated sexual assault" in place of existing offenses for rape, aggravated rape, sexual abuse, aggravated sexual abuse, rape of a child, and indecency with a child.
The "sexual assault" provision covers acts defined currently as rape, sexual abuse, rape of a child, and indecency with a child. Language is changed to specify precisely the offensive conduct involved in this second-degree felony and to define consent. Existing defenses are preserved and a new defense is added regarding the offense of assault on a child for conduct that is a part of medical care.
The "aggravated assault" provision incorporates the illegal acts currently defined as aggravated rape and aggravated sexual abuse. The criminal penalty, a first-degree felony, and the defenses and affirmative defense to prosecution are carried over from current law. The defense for medical care to a child is also added.
Other revisions are made throughout the Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure to conform to the substantive changes made in this bill.
SUPPORTERS SAY: This bill makes several improvements in existing law. The major change is to reclassify rape and sexual abuse as assault, an act of violence rather than a sex crime. This would help eliminate the stigma that causes one out of ten rapes to go unreported to the police. Secondly, this bill removes references to gender in the law so both men and women can file charges. In particular, this change will allow for the prosecution of homosexual assaults, but it would also cover cases in which women attack men or assist in male attacks on women. This bill clarifies the types of assaultive actions that have in the past been the basis for convictions for sexual offenses. And it makes clear that a marriage license is not a license to commit sexual assault in cases where spouses are separated or divorced, by excluding from the definition of spouse married persons who are living apart or who have a court action pending for divorce or separate maintenance.
OPPONENTS SAY: This bill should be amended to permit prosecution of all those who sexually assault their spouses. A spouse would not be prosecuted unless the other spouse doesn't consent to the act. This would more adequately address the serious problem of rape within marriage.
OTHER OPPONENTS SAY: The existing offenses for rape and sexual abuse should stay the same. Juries will usually assess a much stiffer penalty for rape than they will for some type of assault. Rape is already perceived by most people as the ultimate assault.
NOTES: CSHB 2008 is essentially the same as CSHB 1730, by Danburg, except that CSHB 1730 eliminates any
exception for nonconsensual conduct between spouses. CSHB 1730 has been reported favorably by the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee. A committee substitute for SB 966, by Whitmire, companion to HB 1730, has been reported by the Senate Jurisprudence Committee.