CCS HS HB 1487 -- CRIMES AGAINST PERSONS

This bill makes changes to the laws regarding crimes against
persons.

The crime of child kidnapping is created, a class A felony, and
is committed when a person who is not a relative within the third
degree unlawfully removes or confines a child age 13 or younger
without the consent of the child's parents or guardians.  It is
an affirmative defense that the person reasonably believed that
the person's actions were necessary to preserve the child from
danger to his or her welfare.  This provision contains an
emergency clause.

Several crimes regarding human trafficking are created and
include:

(1)  Abusing an individual through forced labor, a class B
felony, is committed when a perpetrator obtains the services of a
person through the use of threats of serious harm or physical
restraint of the person or by abuse of the legal process;

(2)  Trafficking for the purpose of slavery or involuntary
servitude, a class B felony, is committed when a perpetrator
recruits, harbors, transports, provides, or obtains a person for
the purpose of slavery or involuntary servitude, peonage, or
forced labor;

(3)  Trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation, a class
B felony, is committed when a perpetrator recruits, harbors,
transports, provides, or obtains a person for the use or
employment of the person in sexual conduct without his or her
consent;

(4)  Sexual trafficking of a child, a class A felony, is
committed when a perpetrator recruits, entices, harbors,
transports, provides, or obtains a person under the age of 18 to
participate in a commercial sex act.  It will not be an
affirmative defense that the perpetrator believed that the person
was age 18 or older; and

(5)  Contributing to human trafficking through the misuse of
documentation, a class D felony, is committed when the
perpetrator restricts a person's ability to move or travel by
controlling the person's identification documents or when the
perpetrator destroys, conceals, or confiscates a governmental
identification document or other immigration document of a victim
while committing a trafficking crime.

As part of the sentencing for a human trafficking offense, the
court must order the perpetrator to pay restitution to the
victim.

The laws regarding patronizing prostitution are modified.  The
bill:

(1)  Makes it a class A misdemeanor to patronize a prostitute who
is age 15 to 17 and clarifies that prosecution for this offense
does not preclude a prosecution for statutory rape or sodomy.
The current law is a class B misdemeanor and does not refer to
the age of the prostitute; and

(2)  Makes it a class D felony to patronize a prostitute who is
age 14 or younger and clarifies that prosecution for this offense
does not preclude a prosecution for statutory rape or sodomy.

Missouri House of Representatives
92nd General Assembly, 2nd Regular Session
Last Updated September 23, 2004 at 11:15 am