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Sexual grooming of children now felony crime under new law signed by Evers
Molly Beck
MADISON - The sexual grooming of children is now a felony crime under legislation Gov. Tony Evers signed into law this week.
Evers also signed a second bill into law that requires school districts to establish rules for how school staff communicate with students in an effort to prevent school employees from creating a situation where a student could be groomed.
"We have an important obligation to make sure our kids can feel secure, supported, and cared for by educators and staff in our schools — adults they should be able to trust and depend on — while also providing more clarity about what interactions with students are inappropriate and unacceptable and enhancing punishments for adults who violate that sacred trust," Evers said in a statement.
“Defining grooming is a critical step to give law enforcement and local school districts the tools they need to hold bad actors accountable for hurting our kids, and I’m glad the Legislature took this seriously this session and passed bipartisan legislation to get this done."
Under one bill, it would be a felony offense for an adult to engage in "a course of conduct, pattern of behavior, or series of acts with the intention to condition, seduce, solicit, lure, or entice a child" for the purpose of engaging in sexual intercourse or sexual contact, or to create and distribute child pornography.
Examples of behavior that could constitute grooming under the legislation include written or spoken communications as well as physical contact.
If convicted, a person could face between 10 and 25 years in prison, depending on who the person is to the child and whether the child has a disability, among other factors that could increase penalties. Those convicted of grooming would be required to register with the Department of Corrections as a sex offender.
According to an analysis from the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau, the crime does not apply to a person who is 18 or under if it involves a child who is not more than four years younger than the person, unless the violation involves force, coercion, or abuse of a position of trust or authority over the child.
The second bill Evers signed Friday, March 6, requires all schools to adopt by Sept. 1 a policy on appropriate communication among employees and volunteers and students.
The law requires the policy to include a range of consequences for policy violations, including termination of employment. It also requires the policy to apply to communications at any time of day or night.
The bills were authored by Republican lawmakers Rep. Amanda Nedweski of Pleasant Prairie and Sens. Jesse James of Thorp and Romaine Quinn of Birchwood.
The measures were drafted last fall as State Superintendent Jill Underly came under scrutiny over how the state education department handles allegations of grooming and sexual misconduct by licensed school staff.
The focus was triggered after the Capital Times reported on 200 cases of such incidents since 2018, including instances of teachers who were able to later reapply for a license.
The details of the cases were not proactively made public beyond being made available for review for anyone who files a request under the state's public records law.
Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.
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