The provisions of the bill addressing felony sanctions are the subject of this analysis. The bill would amend the Code of Criminal Procedure as it relates to the offense of aggravated assault. Under the provisions of the bill, the statute of limitations for aggravated assault would be extended to seven years if it involves communicable disease as outlined in the bill. Under current statute, the statute of limitations for aggravated assault is three years and it is punishable as a first or second degree felony.
A first degree felony is punishable by confinement in prison for life or a term from 5 to 99 years. A second degree felony is punishable by confinement in prison for a term from 2 to 20 years. In addition to confinement, most felonies can be subject to an optional fine not to exceed $10,000.
Enhancing the criminal penalties for an offense is expected to result in additional demands upon the correctional resources of counties or of the State due to an increase in the number of individuals placed under supervision in the community or sentenced to a term of confinement within state correctional institutions. From fiscal years 2018 through 2020, a total of 107 people were arrested more than three and less than seven years after offense for aggravated assault. From fiscal years 2018 through 2020, an average of 18,040 people were arrested, 2,331 people were placed onto felony direct community supervision, and 2,578 people were admitted into a state correctional institution for aggravated assault under existing statute. There is a lack of data to identify aggravated assault cases in which a communicable disease was involved as outlined in the bill from all other aggravated assault cases . This analysis assumes the provisions of the bill addressing felony sanctions would not result in a significant impact on state correctional populations or on the demand for state correctional resources.