Honorable John Whitmire, Chair, Senate Committee on Criminal Justice
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB129 by Springer (Relating to the prosecution and punishment for possession of child pornography; increasing criminal penalties.), As Introduced
The bill would revise and increase criminal penalties for the offense of possession of child pornography based on factors including the number of visual depictions of a child possessed by the defendant; the age of the child depicted; previous convictions of the defendant for possession of child pornography; the status of the defendant as an employee of certain facilities that serve youth; and the status of the defendant as an individual receiving state funds for the care of a child depicted by the visual material. Currently, the maximum penalty is a first degree felony based on the number of previous convictions of the defendant for possession of child pornography. The bill would establish the maximum penalty as a first degree felony punishable by imprisonment in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for life or for a term of not less than 25 but not more than 99 years if certain conditions are met. The bill would remove the authority of courts to run multiple sentences for possession or promotion of child pornography consecutively.
Expanding the conduct constituting and modifying the penalty for an existing offense may result in additional demands upon state and local correctional resources due to a possible increase in the number of individuals placed under supervision in the community or sentenced to a term of confinement.
In fiscal year 2022, there were 419 individuals arrested, 101 individuals placed on adult community supervision, 46 individuals placed on juvenile probation supervision, 145 individuals admitted to an adult state correctional institution, and 1 individual admitted to a juvenile state correctional institution for possession of child pornography.
It is assumed that any impact on state correctional populations or on the demand for state correctional resources would not be significant.