Honorable Terry Keel, Chair, House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence
FROM:
John S. O'Brien, Deputy Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB1012 by Hilderbran (Relating to the offense of abuse of a corpse and to the offense of criminal mischief in certain circumstances; providing a criminal penalty.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted
The bill would amend the Penal Code by expanding the definition of abuse of corpse to include vandalizing, damaging, or treating in an offensive manner the space in which a human corpse has been interred or otherwise permanently laid to rest. The offense of abuse of corpse would be enhanced from a Class A misdemeanor to a state jail felony.
A Class A misdemeanor is punishable by confinement in county jail for a term not to exceed one year, a fine not to exceed $4,000, or both fine and imprisonment.
A state jail felony is punishable by confinement in a state jail for any term of not more than two years or less than 180 days, or in addition to confinement, a fine not to exceed $10,000.
Enhancing a criminal offense from a misdemeanor to a felony is expected to result in increased demands upon the correctional resources of the State due to longer terms of probation or longer terms of confinement in county jails or prison as well as shifting the responsibility from local government to the State in dealing with incarceration expenses. In the case of this bill, however, it is assumed that the number of persons convicted under this statute would not result in a significant impact on the programs and workload of state corrections agencies.