Sacramento, CA – This week, the California Senate Public Safety Committee passed Assembly Bill (AB) 368, a measure meant to protect young child sexual assault victims from reliving their assault details multiple times in court. With this bill, when an offender commits certain sexual crimes with a minor in multiple jurisdictions, the offenses may be joined and heard in any one of those locations. The bill expands the ages of the victims from just 10-14 years old under current law to all children under the age of 14.
“As a former prosecutor, I introduced this bill to allow the consolidation of child sexual assault prosecutions to protect children from having to relive their assault details multiple times in court,” said Muratsuchi. “This is a bipartisan bill to protect child sexual assault victims.”
Sponsored by the District Attorney from the County of Los Angeles, the bill would expedite the prosecution of offenders while preventing young children from reliving the trauma unnecessarily.
“Transitory living situations can result in a child sexual assault victim being victimized in multiple jurisdictions, often by the same offender. Consolidating criminal prosecutions results in preventing a child sexual assault victim being subjected to multiple court proceedings, repetitive investigations, and testifying in multiple trials often lasting over several years,” said Los Angeles County District Attorney, Jackie Lacey. “AB 368 solves this problem by allowing for the consolidation of all child sexual assault prosecutions.”
Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi represents California’s 66th Assembly District, which includes El Camino Village, Gardena, Harbor City, Harbor Gateway, Hermosa Beach, Lomita, Los Angeles, Manhattan Beach, Palos Verdes Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, Torrance, and West Carson. He serves as Chairman of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee and the Assembly Select Committee on Aerospace. Muratsuchi is a member of the Assembly Committees on Appropriations, Budget, Budget Subcommittee 2, Natural Resources, Utilities and Energy, and Veterans Affairs.