Amendment #38 to H3773

Failure to notify law enforcement of missing or deceased child

Representatives Jones of North Reading, Hill of Ipswich, Poirier of North Attleborough, Gifford of Wareham, Frost of Auburn and Smola of Warren move to amend the bill by inserting at the end thereof the following new sections:

SECTION XX. Section 13J of chapter 265 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2014 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting in line 32 after the word “imprisonment”, the following:- “in the state prison for not more than 10 years, or by imprisonment”

;and further, by striking out, in line 39, the words “five years” and inserting in place thereof the following:- “15 years”

SECTION XX. Chapter 265 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2014 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting, after section 13N, the following section:--

Section 13O. Failure to Notify Law Enforcement of Missing or Deceased Child

For the purposes of this section, the following words shall have the following meanings:--

“Person having care and custody”, a parent, guardian, employee of a home or institution or any other person with equivalent supervision or care of a child, whether the supervision is temporary or permanent.

“Child”, any person under 14 years of age.

"Law enforcement authority'', any police department in the commonwealth or any of its political subdivisions.

"Missing child or children'', any person under the age of 14 years missing from his normal and ordinary place of residence or last known whereabouts and whose whereabouts cannot be determined by the person having care and custody of such child.

 Whoever, having care and custody of a child, fails to notify a law enforcement authority or emergency medical personnel of the death of such child, accidental or otherwise, within 2 hours of the discovery of such known death and (i) intends to mislead a public official, (ii) intends to  impede any investigation, or (iii) causes an investigation to be impeded, shall be punished by a term of imprisonment in the state prison for not more than 10 years or imprisonment in the house of correction for not more than 2 ½ years.

 Whoever, having care and custody of a child, finds the child missing and fails to notify a law enforcement authority of the missing child within 5 days and (i) intends to mislead a public official, (ii) intends to impede an investigation, or (iii) causes an investigation to be impeded, shall be punished by a term of imprisonment in the state prison for not more than 10 years or imprisonment in the house of correction for not more than 2 ½ years.”