Children are some of the most vulnerable out of anyone in the population, so exploiting them is completely heinous. Hopefully House Bill 1545, which creates Florida’s statute 847.01385, can help fight against it.
House Bill 1545, effective as of October 1, founded the new offense “Harmful Communication to a Minor”. It is now a third degree felony for an adult to engage “in a pattern of communication to a minor…that is harmful” or “includes explicit and detailed verbal descriptions or narrative accounts of sexual activity, sexual conduct, or sexual excitement”.
This law also notes that “ignorance of a minor’s age, a minor’s misrepresentation of his or her age, a bona fide belief of a minor’s age, or a minor’s consent” are not reasonable defenses for this crime. As a new crime, it has been ranked as a level three on the offense severity ranking chart, which classifies crimes on a scale from one to 10, with a level 10 offense being the most severe.
In addition, House Bill 1545 amends Florida’s statute 921.0022 to increase “ranking levels of specified child exploitation offenses on the offense severity ranking chart of the Criminal Punishment Code”. The intended outcome of this law is to increase the minimum prison sentence for anyone who would exploit a child.
As such, the third degree felony of possessing, controlling, or intentionally viewing child pornography went from a level five to a level six. The second degree felony of possessing child pornography with the intent to promote it went from a level five to a level seven. The second degree felony of “using or inducing a child in a sexual performance” or “promoting or directing such performance” went from a level six to a level seven.
House Bill 1545 was originally prepared by the Criminal Justice Committee, filed on January 8, 2024; and voted through in the Senate and House with votes of 40-0 and 100-11, respectively. It was presented to Governor DeSantis on April 8, 2024, and he approved it on April 10, 2024.
For complete details on this new law, click here to read all 57 pages of House Bill 1545. For the official summary, click here.
Article by Ema Tibbetts