Senate Bill 0274

    Florida Senate - 2000                                   SB 274

    By Senator Saunders





    25-111-00

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to the Criminal Punishment

  3         Code; amending s. 921.0021, F.S.; revising the

  4         definition of the term "victim injury" to

  5         include animals in certain cases; providing an

  6         effective date.

  7

  8  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

  9

10         Section 1.  Subsection (7) of section 921.0021, Florida

11  Statutes, is amended to read:

12         921.0021  Definitions.--As used in this chapter, for

13  any felony offense, except any capital felony, committed on or

14  after October 1, 1998, the term:

15         (7)(a)  "Victim injury" means the physical injury or

16  death suffered by a person or animal, in an animal cruelty

17  case, as a direct result of the primary offense, or any

18  additional offense, for which an offender is convicted and

19  which is pending before the court for sentencing at the time

20  of the primary offense.

21         (b)  Except as provided in paragraph (c) or paragraph

22  (d),

23         1.  If the conviction is for an offense involving

24  sexual contact that includes sexual penetration, the sexual

25  penetration must be scored in accordance with the sentence

26  points provided under s. 921.0024 for sexual penetration,

27  regardless of whether there is evidence of any physical

28  injury.

29         2.  If the conviction is for an offense involving

30  sexual contact that does not include sexual penetration, the

31  sexual contact must be scored in accordance with the sentence

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida Senate - 2000                                   SB 274
    25-111-00




  1  points provided under s. 921.0024 for sexual contact,

  2  regardless of whether there is evidence of any physical

  3  injury.

  4

  5  If the victim of an offense involving sexual contact suffers

  6  any physical injury as a direct result of the primary offense

  7  or any additional offense committed by the offender resulting

  8  in conviction, such physical injury must be scored separately

  9  and in addition to the points scored for the sexual contact or

10  the sexual penetration.

11         (c)  The sentence points provided under s. 921.0024 for

12  sexual contact or sexual penetration may not be assessed for a

13  violation of s. 944.35(3)(b)2.

14         (d)  If the conviction is for the offense described in

15  s. 872.06, the sentence points provided under s. 921.0024 for

16  sexual contact or sexual penetration may not be assessed.

17         Section 2.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a

18  law.

19

20            *****************************************

21                          SENATE SUMMARY

22    Revises the definition of the term "victim injury" to
      include animals, in animal cruelty cases, for purposes of
23    the Criminal Punishment Code.

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