R.I. teachers unions, ACLU object to bill criminalizing sex between school employees and students [View all]

PROVIDENCE — The state’s two teachers’ unions are objecting to a bill that would make sex between school employees and students a crime if the students are younger than 18 years old.

Rhode Island is one of about 30 states — including all the New England states except Vermont — where the age of consent is 16 years old.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Alex Marszalkowski, D-Cumberland, says that any school employee — including bus drivers, vendors and school volunteers with supervisory authority — would be guilty of third-degree sexual assault if they have sex with a student between the ages of 14 and 18. (Under existing law, a person is guilty of first-degree child molestation sexual assault if he or she engages in sex with a person younger than 14.)

Erika Sanzi, an education advocate and blogger, said she asked her state representative to submit the bill after a previous bill was described as being too broad. That legislation would have made it a crime for anyone with custodial responsibility to have sex with someone between the ages of 14 and 18.

Read more: https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20190409/ri-teachers-unions-aclu-object-to-bill-criminalizing-sex-between-school-employees-and-students