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House Bill 8 |
House Author: Riddle et al. |
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Effective: 9-1-07 |
Senate Sponsor: Deuell et al. |
House Bill 8 adds the Jessica Lunsford Act, relating to the prosecution, punishment, and supervision of sex offenders, to the Code of Criminal Procedure. The bill subjects certain repeat sex offenders to the death penalty or to life without parole and sets out procedures for repeat sex offender capital cases. House Bill 8 creates the offense of continuous sexual abuse of a young child or children as a first degree felony punishable by imprisonment for life or for at least 25 years and no more than 99 years. The bill sets a minimum of 25 years imprisonment for aggravated sexual assault if the victim is a child younger than six years of age at the time of the offense or, under certain circumstances, if the victim is younger than 14 years of age at the time of the offense. The bill enhances the punishment for the offense of sexual performance by a child if the victim is younger than 14 years of age at the time of the offense.
House Bill 8 extends the statute of limitations for a felony indictment for certain sex offenses against a child from 10 years past the victim's 18th birthday to 20 years past the victim's 18th birthday in some instances, and eliminates the statute of limitations in other instances. The bill also makes a person serving a sentence for continuous sexual abuse of a young child or children, or for aggravated sexual assault of certain young victims, ineligible for parole or mandatory supervision. The bill adds a person convicted of certain offenses, including sex offenses, committed against a child to the list of persons ineligible for community supervision or deferred adjudication.
House Bill 8 sets out duties of the office of the attorney general relating to assisting a county or district attorney in the prosecution of certain sexual and assaultive offenses and requires the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to establish a sex offender treatment program that inmates who are serving sentences for certain sex offenses must complete before being released. The bill specifies that the tracking device required to be worn by a civilly committed sex offender must be able to track the person's location in real time and to provide certain real-time and cumulative reports on the offender's location.