What is the charge for contributing to the dilequency of a minor who commited a sex act?
Full Question:
What is the charge for contributing to the dilequency of a minor who commited a sex act while under your supervision? Does this carry a sentence of jail time?
10/26/2007 |
Category: Minors |
State: Mississippi |
#11011
Answer:
The following is a statute:
§ 97-5-39. Contributing to the neglect or delinquency of a child;
felonious abuse and/or battery of a child.
(1)(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, any parent,
guardian or other person who willfully commits any act or omits the
performance of any duty, which act or omission contributes to or tends to
contribute to the neglect or delinquency of any child or which act or
omission results in the abuse of any child, as defined in Section
43-21-105(m) of the Youth Court Law, or who knowingly aids any child in
escaping or absenting himself from the guardianship or custody of any
person, agency or institution, or knowingly harbors or conceals, or aids
in harboring or concealing, any child who has absented himself without
permission from the guardianship or custody of any person, agency or
institution to which the child shall have been committed by the youth
court shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be
punished by a fine not to exceed One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or by
imprisonment not to exceed one (1) year in jail, or by both such fine and
imprisonment.
(b) If the child's deprivation of necessary food, clothing, shelter,
health care or supervision appropriate to the child's age results in
substantial harm to the child's physical, mental or emotional health, the
person may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than five (5) years
or to payment of a fine of not more than Five Thousand Dollars
($5,000.00), or both.
(c) A parent, legal guardian or other person who knowingly permits
the continuing physical or sexual abuse of a child is guilty of neglect
of a child and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than ten
(10) years or to payment of a fine of not more than Ten Thousand Dollars
($10,000.00), or both.
(2)(a) Any person who shall intentionally (i) burn any child, (ii)
torture any child or, (iii) except in self-defense or in order to prevent
bodily harm to a third party, whip, strike or otherwise abuse or mutilate
any child in such a manner as to cause serious bodily harm, shall be
guilty of felonious abuse of a child and, upon conviction, shall be
sentenced to imprisonment in the custody of the Department of Corrections
for life or such lesser term of imprisonment as the court may determine,
but not less than ten (10) years. For any second or subsequent conviction
under this subsection, the person shall be sentenced to imprisonment for
life.
(b)(i) A parent, legal guardian or caretaker who endangers a child's
person or health by knowingly causing or permitting the child to be
present where any person is selling, manufacturing or possessing immediate
precursors or chemical substances with intent to manufacture, sell or
possess a controlled substance as prohibited under Section 41-29-139 or
41-29-313, is guilty of child endangerment and may be sentenced to
imprisonment for not more than ten (10) years or to payment of a fine of
not more than Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00), or both.
(ii) If the endangerment results in substantial harm to the child's
physical, mental or emotional health, the person may be sentenced to
imprisonment for not more than twenty (20) years or to payment of a fine
of not more than Twenty Thousand Dollars ($20,000.00), or both.
(3) Nothing contained in this section shall prevent proceedings against
the parent, guardian or other person under any statute of this state or
any municipal ordinance defining any act as a crime or misdemeanor.
Nothing in the provisions of this section shall preclude any person from
having a right to trial by jury when charged with having violated the
provisions of this section.
(4) After consultation with the Department of Human Services, a
regional mental health center or an appropriate professional person, a
judge may suspend imposition or execution of a sentence provided in
subsections (1) and (2) of this section and in lieu thereof require
treatment over a specified period of time at any approved public or
private treatment facility. A person may be eligible for treatment in lieu
of criminal penalties no more than one (1) time.
(5) In any proceeding resulting from a report made pursuant to Section
43-21-353 of the Youth Court Law, the testimony of the physician making
the report regarding the child's injuries or condition or cause thereof
shall not be excluded on the ground that the physician's testimony
violates the physician-patient privilege or similar privilege or rule
against disclosure. The physician's report shall not be considered as
evidence unless introduced as an exhibit to his testimony.
(6) Any criminal prosecution arising from a violation of this section
shall be tried in the circuit, county, justice or municipal court having
jurisdiction; provided, however, that nothing herein shall abridge or
dilute the contempt powers of the youth court.