The Senate Corrections and Criminal Law Committee heard HB 1079 on elements of rape sponsored by Sens. Bohacek and Brown.Theauthor, Rep. Negele, introduced the bill which provides that a person commits rape if: (1) the person engages in sexual activity with another person and the other person submits to the sexual activity under the belief that the person committing the act is someone the victim knows, other than the person committing the act, and such belief is intentionally induced by any artifice, pretense, or concealment practiced by the person; or (2) the person engages in sexual activity with another person and the other person has expressed a lack of consent, through words or conduct, to sexual intercourse or other sexual conduct.
The bill was amended by consent to remove the rape by fraud provisions and clarify that a person commits rape by engaging in sexual conduct with another person when the person disregarded the victim’s attempts to physically, verbally, or by other visible conduct refuse the person’s acts.
The Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council, Women for Change, Indiana Coalition to End Sexual Assault and Human Trafficking, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, and several victims testified in support of the bill. The Indiana Public Defender Council testified in opposition. The amended bill passed 8-0.
Read the bill at: http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2022/bills/house/1079