Senator Carter aims to change child grooming laws in Missouri

What is child grooming? It is a calculated and deceptive process where an individual builds a relationship, trust. and emotional connection with a child or young person with the explicit intention of manipulating, exploiting, and sexually abusing them.

Sadly, there are no laws on the books against it or to prevent grooming in Missouri unless something bad has happened. State Senator Jill Carter is trying to change that. 

“We know that grooming happens prior to any exploitation 90 percent of the time,” She said while joining the Morning Newswatch. “And yet the only law on the books to prevent or to be able to prosecute that kind of crime only occurs when something wrong has happened. Whether that's rape or some kind of physical harm. 

“What we're trying to do is ensure that kids are protected before something occurs when we have a preponderance of evidence. We've been working with the legislator at the AG's office, our prosecutors from across the state, to try to thread that needle to ensure our kids are safe. Early statistics are saying that 300 million kids worldwide are impacted by sexual assault or sexual grooming. I mean, that's almost the population of the entire U.S. So this is something that a lot of people are saying is similar to a pandemic. This is something that's impacting most of our youth. And so we're trying to take that issue on and make sure that our kids are protected.”

Senate Bill 893, also referred to as Sophie's Law, establishes the new offense of grooming of a minor (amending sections 566.152, 589.400, and 589.414). This applies to individuals 18 years or older who engage in a pattern of conduct intended to prepare, condition, or manipulate a minor for sexual conduct. The intent can be inferred from the nature, frequency, and context of communications or actions. Convictions would require registration as a sex offender and trigger related notification requirements.

“Right now, the only language that we have on the books is enticement of a child. And so that's a thin line between enticing and grooming. … Because we can't, we don't have anything on the books for grooming. It's left our prosecutors in that gray area of not really knowing where the line is. And because of prior case law, it's made it difficult for them to prosecute a lot of these cases.”

“It's a very gray area because what we don't want to have happen is have good people who are trying to help kids by giving them a meal or something,” Senator Carter continued. “To make sure that they are not prosecuted. But there needs to be a preponderance of evidence. When you sat in the house hearing and listen to testimony for four hours with parents who brought binders full of inappropriate texts and yet a prosecutor cannot do anything about that, that's where the problem lies. There should be a preponderance of evidence that you're not only, you know, you're basically stalking or enticing a lot of taking a lot of those definitions into consideration and threading that needle so our prosecutors have the language and law to actually prosecute.”

The good news is that Senator Carter believes that because this bill has bipartisan support, it should get action and move quickly in the senate and in the house.