Massachusetts lawmakers are renewing an try to shut a loophole in state regulation in order that college students don’t turn out to be the victims of predators who abuse their positions of belief.
Because the state’s legal guidelines are presently written, adults in Massachusetts are legally permitted to interact in so-called consensual sexual relationships with teenagers 16-years-old and older underneath their care who’ve purpose to belief them, A bunch that would embrace faculty workers and coaches.
Underneath laws supplied by Sen. Joan Beautiful and Rep. Leigh Davis, such an unequal relationship could be forbidden and adults who use their place to interrupt the regulation would face costs.
“This bill ensures that individuals in positions of trust face consequences if they exploit their authority to harm a child. It is crucial to hold those who take advantage of our young people fully accountable for their actions and for the damage they cause to children and families across the Commonwealth,” Beautiful mentioned throughout a press convention Monday.
Joined by Davis, Berkshire Nation District Lawyer Timothy Shugrue, Essex County District Lawyer Paul Tucker, and Jetta Bernier, the chief director of nonprofit Sufficient Abuse, Beautiful mentioned that the time is now to make a change she has pursued by a number of classes on Beacon Hill.
“I have been fighting for this legislation for years because protecting children is not just a policy priority — it is an obligation,” she mentioned.
In line with Sufficient Abuse, Massachusetts shouldn’t be alone among the many states in permitting adults in positions of authority to start sexual relationships with kids underneath their cost, however no less than 39 states and D.C. have handed legal guidelines to stop it.
Whereas district attorneys have a “duty and obligation” to guard the state’s youngest residents, Shugrue mentioned, except there’s a change made by the Legislature, the Bay State’s personal authorized loophole means regulation enforcement officers are unable to intervene even when an allegedly inappropriate relationship is dropped at their consideration.
“As district attorneys, we can only enforce laws passed by the legislature. It is critical that they pass these bills. The codification of these bills into law will finally close this longstanding loophole that has allowed for the sexual exploitation of children living in our state,” he mentioned.
Davies, who in line with Beautiful approached her in the beginning of this yr’s session within the hope of getting the regulation throughout the end line, mentioned the topic is “not just policy—it’s personal.”
“As a legislator, a former educator, and a mother — including to a teenage daughter — I refuse to accept a legal system that protects predators instead of children. No child should ever hear that the law won’t protect them. No survivor should ever be told their abuser walks free because our laws failed them. If I can help provide a path to justice for survivors and their families, I have done my job,” Davies mentioned.
An analogous invoice was supplied over the last legislative session however by no means emerged after it was despatched to the Joint Committee on the Judiciary for examine. The identical destiny befell a model of the availability supplied in 2021.
Have been the regulation to move, adults in positions of belief who have interaction in a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old or older minor underneath their care may resist 10 years in jail.
