Child Abuse Reform & Enforcement Statute

The C.A.R.E.S Bill

Executive Summary and Legislative Intent

The Child and Adolescent Rape Enforcement and Sentencing Act (CARES) is a comprehensive New York State criminal‑law reform package responding to egregious predatory cases, including a 42‑year‑old man who lured two minor victims, ages 13 and 16, into his residence, brought them to his bedroom while adult family members were present, and raped both.

Under current law, rape in the first degree (Penal Law §130.35) is a class B violent felony, with determinate sentences typically ranging between 5 and 25 years, and predatory sexual assault against a child (Penal Law §130.96) is a class A‑II felony with mandatory minimums such as 10 years to life and maximums up to 25 years to life. Rape in the second and third degrees (§§130.30, 130.25) are lower‑class felonies with reduced sentencing exposure, and sexual offenses against older adolescents, multiple minors in a single course of conduct, mentally ill persons, and elderly victims may not consistently result in penalties that reflect the gravity of predatory behavior.

The CARES framework directly addresses these gaps by:

- Defining rape so that any act of sexual intercourse, penetration, or forcible touching by an adult actor (21+) against a child (15 or younger), adolescent (under 18), clinically recognized mentally ill person, or elderly person (55+) is automatically treated as aggravated rape and legally non‑consensual.

- Establishing enhanced sentencing ranges tailored to victim vulnerability:

- Child victims (15 or younger): 10–35 years.

- Adolescent victims (under 18): 10–29 years.

- Mentally challenged or elderly victims (55+): 10–30 years.

- RICO‑style criminal enterprise: 10–35 years.

- Integrating digital and residential luring, manipulation, and deliberate deception directly into the statutory definition of rape, eliminating separate “sexual assault” labels for this conduct.

- Amending Article 130 to:

- Elevate adult predation against 15–17‑year‑olds out of third‑degree rape into higher degrees.

- Create automatic aggravated first‑degree rape when an adult actor targets two or more minors in the same course of conduct.

- Bar “ignorance of age” defenses for adult actors 21+ where the victim is under 17.

- Creating a Child and Adolescent Predatory Sexual Enterprise offense, modeled on RICO principles, to capture household, family, and organized predatory networks, and to authorize immediate asset freezing and forfeiture.

- Mandating consecutive sentencing for multi‑victim cases and expanding accomplice liability to include adults present in the home who fail to intervene.

Within this framework, victim protection and stronger enforcement with enhanced sentences are expressly designed to greatly reduce or eliminate the compulsion of adults to violate children, adolescents, mental‑health patients, and elderly persons.

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## CARES Legislative Bill – Consolidated Text

STATE OF NEW YORK

S. ____ / A. ____

IN SENATE — IN ASSEMBLY

An Act to amend the penal law, the criminal procedure law, the correction law, and related statutes, in relation to redefining rape, establishing aggravated degrees for predatory sexual offenses against minors and vulnerable adults, defining adult actors as twenty‑one years of age or older, eliminating age‑ignorance defenses, mandating consecutive sentencing for multi‑minor sexual offenses, and creating the Child and Adolescent Predatory Sexual Enterprise offense.

SECTION 1. Short Title

This act shall be known and may be cited as the “Child and Adolescent Rape Enforcement and Sentencing Act” or “CARES Act.”

SECTION 2. Legislative Findings and Purpose

1. The Legislature finds that current New York Penal Law Article 130, including rape in the first degree (Penal Law §130.35), rape in the second and third degrees (§§130.30, 130.25), and predatory sexual assault against a child (§130.96), provides serious penalties but leaves structural gaps in accountability for adults who target older adolescents, multiple minors, mentally ill victims, and elderly victims.

2. The Legislature further finds that:

- Existing sentencing ranges (e.g., 5–25 years for first‑degree rape and 10–25‑to‑life for predatory sexual assault against a child) do not always ensure maximum accountability in multi‑victim or enterprise‑level cases.

- Household and family complicity, digital grooming and luring, and deliberate deception regarding identity and age are not systematically treated as core elements of rape and aggravated predatory behavior.

3. The purposes of this act are to:

- Redefine rape to automatically eliminate consent for children, adolescents, mentally ill persons, and elderly persons when targeted by adult actors.

- Automatically classify such conduct as aggravated rape with enhanced sentencing ranges.

- Integrate manipulation, luring, and deliberate deception into the definition of rape.

- Create a Child and Adolescent Predatory Sexual Enterprise offense with RICO‑style sentencing.

- Eliminate “mistake of age” defenses for adult actors 21+ and require consecutive sentencing for multi‑minor offenses.

SECTION 3. Definitions and General Provisions

§3.1. Adult actor, child, adolescent, mental health person, elderly person

For purposes of the CARES Act and amendments to Article 130:

- “Adult actor” means any person twenty‑one years of age or older.

- “Child” means any person fifteen years of age or younger.

- “Adolescent” means any person under eighteen years of age, including minors aged sixteen and seventeen.

- “Minor” means any person under eighteen years of age.

- “Mental health person” means any person clinically recognized or diagnosed as having mental health challenges, cognitive impairments, or developmental disabilities that substantially affect judgment, understanding, or capacity to consent.

- “Elderly person” means any adult fifty‑five years of age or older who, due to age‑related factors, is vulnerable to sexual exploitation.

§3.2. Rape under CARES

1. “Rape,” for purposes of this act, means any act in which an adult actor engages in:

- Sexual intercourse; or

- Any form of penetration, vaginal, anal, or oral, however slight, by any body part or by any object; or

- Forcible touching, sexual contact, or handling of intimate parts, no matter how slight;

with a child, adolescent, mental health person, or elderly person.

2. Rape under this act includes circumstances where:

- The victim is legally incapable of consenting as defined in §3.3; or

- The adult actor uses manipulation, luring, deliberate deception, intimidation, coercion, or any form of compulsion.

§3.3. Elimination of consent

In any prosecution under Article 130 as amended by CARES:

- A child (15 or younger), an adolescent (under 18), a mental health person, or an elderly person (55+) is legally incapable of consenting to rape by an adult actor.

- Apparent willingness, prior relationships, absence of physical resistance, or contextual factors (time, location, clothing, supervision) shall not constitute consent or diminish liability.

§3.4. Manipulation, luring, and deliberate deception

“Manipulation, luring, and deliberate deception” include any conduct by which an adult actor:

- Knowingly withholds, misrepresents, or falsifies information about identity, age, relationship, or intentions; or

- Uses residential premises, electronic communication, social media, dating applications, gaming platforms, or other digital means;

for the purpose of causing a child, adolescent, mental health person, or elderly person to enter or remain in a location or situation where the actor can engage in sexual intercourse, penetration, or sexual contact, no matter how slight. This conduct is inherently predatorial and is included within the definition of rape under CARES.

§3.5. Aggravated rape under CARES

“Aggravated rape” under CARES automatically includes:

- Any rape committed by an adult actor (21+) against a child or adolescent.

- Any rape involving a mental health person or elderly person.

- Any rape involving:

- Multiple victims within the same course of conduct or incident.

- Penetration of any kind, however slight.

- Forcible touching or sexual contact, no matter how slight, when committed against a child or adolescent.

- Manipulation, luring, deliberate deception, intimidation, coercion, or extortion.

Such offenses are automatically considered aggravated and must be sentenced within the enhanced ranges in Section 7A.

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SECTION 4. Amendments to Penal Law Article 130 – Rape and Related Offenses

§4.1. Rape in the First Degree – Penal Law §130.35

1. Existing subdivisions (1) through (4) of §130.35 remain in effect, defining first‑degree rape as sexual intercourse:

- By forcible compulsion.

- With a physically helpless victim.

- With a victim under eleven.

- With a victim under thirteen when the actor is eighteen or older.

2. A new subdivision (5) is added:

- A person is guilty of rape in the first degree when, being twenty‑one years of age or older, he or she engages in rape, as defined in §3.2, with a child under fifteen years of age.

3. A new subdivision (6) is added establishing automatic aggravated first‑degree rape:

- A person is guilty of aggravated rape in the first degree when, being twenty‑one years of age or older, he or she:

- Commits rape in the first degree under subdivision (1), (4), or (5) and

- One or more aggravating circumstances from §3.5 is present, including:

- Multiple minor victims in the same course of conduct.

- Anal penetration, restraint, binding, or physical injury.

- Residential or digital luring, manipulation, or deliberate deception.

- Intimidation or coercion of the victim or the victim’s family.

- Commission as part of a Child and Adolescent Predatory Sexual Enterprise.

- Any offense meeting these criteria shall automatically be deemed aggravated rape in the first degree, without a separate aggravation finding.

§4.2. Rape in the Second Degree – Penal Law §130.30

Penal Law §130.30 is amended to:

- Define rape in the second degree when:

- Being eighteen or older, the actor engages in rape, as defined in §3.2, with a person less than fifteen; or

- Being eighteen or older, the actor engages in rape with a person less than seventeen, where the actor is at least four years older.

- Add an adult‑actor clause:

- Being twenty‑one years of age or older, the actor engages in rape with an adolescent less than seventeen, where the actor:

- Utilizes a residential premises, electronic communication, social media, dating applications, gaming platforms, or similar digital channels; or

- Employs false pretenses or deceptive invitations;

to lure, isolate, or groom the adolescent for sexual purposes.

- “Aggravated rape in the second degree” includes any such offense involving aggravators from §3.5, including digital grooming, deception, coercion, multiple adolescent victims, or enterprise involvement.

§4.3. Rape in the Third Degree – Penal Law §130.25

Penal Law §130.25 is repurposed to:

- Cover rape, as defined in §3.2, where the victim is:

- A mental health person in an institutional or therapeutic setting, and the actor is a staff member, caregiver, or professional with authority; or

- An elderly person dependent on the actor for care or daily living, where cognitive or physical limitations impair consent.

Repeated or coercive acts may be treated as aggravated rape in the third degree for sentencing under Section 7A.

§4.4. Defense of Lack of Knowledge of Age – Penal Law §130.10

Penal Law §130.10 is amended by adding:

- In any prosecution under Article 130 where the victim is under seventeen and the actor is twenty‑one years of age or older, it shall be no defense that:

- The actor did not know the victim’s age.

- The actor believed the victim to be seventeen or older.

- Age representations were made by the victim or third parties.

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SECTION 5. New Article 131‑B – Child and Adolescent Predatory Sexual Enterprise

§5.1. Enterprise and pattern

- “Enterprise” means any individual, partnership, family unit, association, corporation, or group associated in fact, whether or not a legal entity, engaged in or affecting interstate or intrastate commerce, that engages in a pattern of CARES predicate offenses.

- “CARES predicate offenses” include aggravated rape in the first and second degrees, rape of mental health or elderly victims, predatory sexual assault and predatory sexual assault against a child, serious sexual abuse and exploitation of minors, digital grooming, transport of minors for rape, intimidation, coercion, and related offenses.

- “Pattern” means at least two CARES predicate offenses within ten years, excluding periods of incarceration.

§5.2. Offense and sentencing

- A person is guilty of Child and Adolescent Predatory Sexual Enterprise when, being employed by or associated with an enterprise, he or she knowingly participates in the conduct of such enterprise’s affairs through a pattern of CARES predicate offenses involving minors under eighteen.

- Sentencing for this offense shall range from 10 years minimum to 35 years maximum imprisonment.

§5.3. Asset freezing and forfeiture

- Upon indictment for any CARES predicate or enterprise offense, the court shall order immediate freezing of the defendant’s assets reasonably connected to the enterprise.

- Upon conviction, property used to facilitate or derived from the enterprise shall be subject to forfeiture.

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SECTION 6. Accomplice Liability and Adults Present in the Home

Article 20 is amended to provide that:

- Any adult actor (21+) who aids, abets, or enables a CARES predicate offense, including by providing premises, transport, digital tools, concealment, or intimidation, is liable as a principal.

- Any adult actor (21+) present in a dwelling during the commission of a CARES predicate offense against a minor under eighteen, who knew or reasonably should have known of the offense and failed to take reasonable steps to intervene or report, is presumed to have participated in a Child and Adolescent Predatory Sexual Enterprise, subject to rebuttal.

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SECTION 7. Enhanced Sentencing and Consecutive Sentencing

§7A. Sentencing ranges for aggravated rape under CARES

Notwithstanding any other provision of law:

- Child victims (15 or younger):

- Minimum: 10 years.

- Maximum: 35 years.

- Adolescent victims (under 18):

- Minimum: 10 years.

- Maximum: 29 years.

- Mentally challenged or elderly victims (55+):

- Minimum: 10 years.

- Maximum: 30 years.

- Child and Adolescent Predatory Sexual Enterprise:

- Minimum: 10 years.

- Maximum: 35 years.

Any qualifying rape under CARES is automatically aggravated and must be sentenced within the applicable range; courts may not reduce such offenses to lesser, non‑aggravated forms when the victim falls within the protected categories.

§7B. Mandatory consecutive sentencing – Penal Law §70.25

Penal Law §70.25 is amended to require that:

- When a person is convicted of two or more violent felony sex offenses under Article 130 involving separate minor victims under eighteen committed during the same course of conduct or incident, the terms of imprisonment imposed for each victim must run consecutively, not concurrently.

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SECTION 8. Bail, Pretrial Detention, Supervision, and Registration

- Aggravated rape in the first and second degrees, rape of mental health or elderly victims under CARES, Child and Adolescent Predatory Sexual Enterprise, and predatory sexual assault against a child are designated presumptively non‑bailable; release requires clear and convincing evidence of no danger or flight risk.

- Correction Law and registration statutes are amended so CARES offenses trigger the highest sex‑offender supervision and registration tiers, consistent with severe sexual violence classifications.

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SECTION 9. Removal of Separate “Sexual Assault” Option

- For conduct within the scope of CARES, references in New York statutes and practice to “sexual assault” as a lesser category shall be construed as “rape” where the elements in §3.2 and §3.4 are met. Manipulation, luring, deliberate deception, and related conduct are charged as rape, not as lesser sexual assault.

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SECTION 10. Severability

If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act and its application to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected.

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SECTION 11. Effective Date

This act shall take effect one year after it becomes law, except that:

- The amendments to §130.10 (lack of knowledge of age), §70.25 (consecutive sentencing), and Article 131‑B asset‑freezing provisions shall take effect ninety days after enactment and apply to offenses committed on or after that date.