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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 5298
February Session, 2024
LCO No. 1871
Referred to Committee on JUDICIARY
Introduced by:
(JUD)
AN ACT CLARIFYING THE MEANINGS OF SEXUAL INTERCOURSE
AND SEXUAL CONTACT.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 53a-65 of the 2024 supplement to the general 1
statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof 2
(Effective from passage and applicable to acts occurring before, on and after said 3
date): 4
As used in this part, the following terms have the following 5
meanings: 6
(1) "Actor" means a person accused of sexual assault. 7
(2) "Sexual intercourse" means a single act or multiple acts that occur 8
over a period of time as a continuous course of conduct, that include 9
vaginal intercourse, anal intercourse, fellatio or cunnilingus between 10
persons regardless of sex. Penetration, however slight, is sufficient to 11
complete vaginal intercourse, anal intercourse or fellatio and does not 12
require emission of semen. Penetration may be committed by an object 13
manipulated by the actor into the genital or anal opening of the victim's 14 Raised Bill No. 5298
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body. 15
(3) "Sexual contact" means a single act or multiple acts that occur over 16
a period of time as a continuous course of conduct, that include (A) any 17
contact with the intimate parts of a person for the purpose of sexual 18
gratification of the actor or for the purpose of degrading or humiliating 19
such person or any contact of the intimate parts of the actor with a 20
person for the purpose of sexual gratification of the actor or for the 21
purpose of degrading or humiliating such person, or (B) for the 22
purposes of subdivision (4) of subsection (a) of section 53a-73a, any 23
contact with the intimate parts of a dead human body, or any contact of 24
the intimate parts of the actor with a dead human body, for the purpose 25
of sexual gratification of the actor. 26
(4) "Impaired because of mental disability or disease" means that a 27
person suffers from a mental disability or disease which renders such 28
person incapable of appraising the nature of such person's conduct. 29
(5) "Mentally incapacitated" means that a person is rendered 30
temporarily incapable of appraising or controlling such person's 31
conduct owing to the influence of a drug or intoxicating substance 32
administered to such person without such person's consent, or owing to 33
any other act committed upon such person without such person's 34
consent. 35
(6) "Physically helpless" means that a person is (A) unconscious, or 36
(B) for any other reason, is physically unable to resist an act of sexual 37
intercourse or sexual contact or to communicate unwillingness to an act 38
of sexual intercourse or sexual contact. 39
(7) "Use of force" means: (A) Use of a dangerous instrument; or (B) 40
use of actual physical force or violence or superior physical strength 41
against the victim. 42
(8) "Intimate parts" means the genital area or any substance emitted 43
therefrom, groin, anus or any substance emitted therefrom, inner thighs, 44
buttocks or breasts. 45 Raised Bill No. 5298
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(9) "Psychotherapist" means a physician, psychologist, nurse, 46
substance abuse counselor, social worker, clergyman, marital and 47
family therapist, mental health service provider, hypnotist or other 48
person, whether or not licensed or certified by the state, who performs 49
or purports to perform psychotherapy. 50
(10) "Psychotherapy" means the professional treatment, assessment 51
or counseling of a mental or emotional illness, symptom or condition. 52
(11) "Emotionally dependent" means that the nature of the patient's 53
or former patient's emotional condition and the nature of the treatment 54
provided by the psychotherapist are such that the psychotherapist 55
knows or has reason to know that the patient or former patient is unable 56
to withhold consent to sexual contact by or sexual intercourse with the 57
psychotherapist. 58
(12) "Therapeutic deception" means a representation by a 59
psychotherapist that sexual contact by or sexual intercourse with the 60
psychotherapist is consistent with or part of the patient's treatment. 61
(13) "School employee" means: (A) A teacher, substitute teacher, 62
school administrator, school superintendent, guidance counselor, 63
school counselor, psychologist, social worker, nurse, physician, school 64
paraprofessional or coach employed by a local or regional board of 65
education or a private elementary, middle or high school or working in 66
a public or private elementary, middle or high school; or (B) any other 67
person who, in the performance of his or her duties, has regular contact 68
with students and who provides services to or on behalf of students 69
enrolled in (i) a public elementary, middle or high school, pursuant to a 70
contract with the local or regional board of education, or (ii) a private 71
elementary, middle or high school, pursuant to a contract with the 72
supervisory agent of such private school. 73
(14) "Animal" has the same meaning as provided in section 22-327. 74
(15) "Sexual contact with an animal" means: (A) Any act between a 75
person and an animal that involves contact between a sex organ or anus 76 Raised Bill No. 5298
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of one and the mouth, anus or a sex organ of the other; (B) a person 77
touching or fondling a sex organ or anus of an animal, either directly or 78
through clothing, without a bona fide veterinary or animal husbandry 79
purpose; (C) any intentional transfer or transmission of semen by a 80
person upon any part of an animal; or (D) the insertion, however slight, 81
of any part of a person's body or any object into the vaginal or anal 82
opening of an animal, without a bona fide veterinary or animal 83
husbandry purpose, or the insertion of any part of the animal's body 84
into the vaginal or anal opening of the person. 85
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 from passage and
applicable to acts occurring
before, on and after said
date
53a-65
Statement of Purpose:
To clarify the meanings of "sexual intercourse" and "sexual contact"
following the Connecticut Supreme Court rulings in State v. Douglas C.
and State v. Joseph V.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
underlined.]