Gov. Maura Healey plans to signal laws Thursday that outlaws the circulation of specific images of somebody with out their permission, a transfer that can make Massachusetts the forty ninth state to take action within the nation, in response to an advisory launched Wednesday.
Solely South Carolina will stay with no statute particularly banning so-called revenge porn after Healey inks her signature to a coverage Beacon Hill Democrats struck a compromise on final week.
The deal the Legislature shipped to Healey’s desk makes the non-consensual distribution of specific photos by an grownup a criminal offense punishable by as much as two and half years in jail or a wonderful of as much as $10,000, or each. The proposal additionally boosts the wonderful for felony harassment from $1,000 to $5,000.
Lawmakers arrange a diversionary program for youngsters on the implications of sexting and posting specific photos or movies on-line. A baby who violates these legal guidelines can be diverted from the felony justice system into an schooling program developed and applied by the Lawyer Common’s Workplace.
The invoice additionally extends from six to fifteen years the statute of limitations for assault and battery on a household or family member, or in opposition to somebody with an energetic protecting order. It additionally tackles sexually specific deep fakes, or computer-generated photos of individuals shared with no particular person’s consent.
Each the Home and Senate agreed so as to add the definition of “coercive control” — or non-physical types of abuse by a household or family member — to state legal guidelines masking abuse prevention, a transfer that supporters mentioned will enable victims to qualify for an abuse prevention order.
Healey is scheduled to signal the invoice throughout a ceremony that begins at 10 a.m. within the State Home, in response to her schedule.
She can be joined by Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, Senate President Karen Spilka, Senate finances chief Michael Rodrigues, Judiciary Committee Co-Chair Rep. Michael Day, Sen. John Keenan, native officers, advocates, and survivors, Healey’s workplace mentioned.
