SB 98 - This act revises various criminal laws.

Currently statements made by a child victim under 12 years of age are admissible in evidence, under certain conditions. The act also includes statements by a person with a developmental disability, as that term is defined in section 630.010.

The penalty for involuntary manslaughter is increased from a Class C felony to a Class B felony, the same penalty as for voluntary manslaughter.

The requirement that an act of deviate sexual intercourse or sexual contact be done for sexual gratification is deleted. "Forcible compulsion" is defined to specifically include the use of any substance that renders a person incapable of making informed consent. The crime of sexual assault is committed by having sexual intercourse with a person knowing that it is by forcible compulsion or without that person's consent.

A person commits the crime of abuse of a child by inflicting cruel and inhuman treatment upon a child less than 17. The act deletes the requirement that a person "knowingly" inflict "punishment".
JOAN GUMMELS