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Legislative Update

Grooming

March 13, 2026 Filed Under: Criminal

S.E.A. 119, P.L. 111-2026

Effective: July 1, 2026

  • Adds a facility or event that provides entertainment or programming primarily directed toward a child less than 18 years of age to the list of facilities at which a sexually violent predator or an offender against children may not work or volunteer.
  • Adds entering a facility or location holding an event that provides entertainment or programming primarily directed toward a child less than 18 years of age by a serious sex offender to the crime of unlawful entry by a serious sex offender.
  • Renames the offense of “inappropriate communication with a child” to “sexual grooming”, and provides (in addition to the current elements of the offense) that a person commits the offense if the person engages in a pattern of repeated or continuous contact with an individual whom the person believes to be a child less than 14 years of age, with the intent to condition the individual to be less resistant to future sexual conduct or sexual activity.
  • Specifies that “computer network” includes cellular telephones.

Read the bill at: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2026/bills/senate/119/

Filed Under: Criminal Tagged With: sex offenses

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