Revisions to Model Penal Code Present Child Safety Risks

Hosted by the National District Attorneys Association (NDAA) in partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC)

In June 2021, the American Law Institute (ALI) approved revisions to the Model Penal Code section on Sexual Assault and Related Offenses that if adopted by state legislatures will make it more difficult to prosecute those who buy and sell children for sex and will largely dismantle the sex offender registry currently in place. This Webinar will explain the text of the Model Penal Code relating to Section 213.9 on Sex Trafficking and Section 213.11 on Sentencing and Collateral Consequences and will lead a discussion and take questions on the impact of these proposed revisions to state statutory codes.

In Section 213.9 on Sex Trafficking, the revised Model Penal Code will complicate prosecutions by:

removing “advertising” and “obtaining” as predicate acts that can be used to establish trafficking;
requiring identification of a trafficker to establish child sex trafficking has occurred; and
excluding criminal liability for buyers of commercial sex with minors.

In Section 213.11 on Sentencing and Collateral Consequences, the revised Model Penal Code significantly departs from current safeguards provided by the sex offender registry, including:

removing these crimes from requiring registration: kidnapping/attempted kidnapping, online enticement, sex trafficking, child pornography crimes;
limiting access to registry information only to government law enforcement agencies (no public access);
removing key identifiers from registry requirements (e.g., date of birth, fingerprints/palm prints, DNA sample, driver’s license/passport information, Internet identifiers);
making first time offenses of sexual assault by physical force not registrable – offenders would be registrable only on second convictions;
limiting registration of sexual assault of a minor to crimes where the victim is less than 12 years old and the offender is 21 years old or older;
limiting registration of incestuous sexual assault of a minor to crimes where the victim is less than 16 years old; and
making failure to register a misdemeanor.