Senate Bill No. 97

(By Senators Kessler, Hunter, McKenzie, Edgell,

Anderson, Minard, Caldwell, Minear and Sharpe)

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[Introduced January 9, 2002; referred to the Committee

on the Judiciary.]

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A BILL to amend article three-c, chapter sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section fourteen-a, relating to the crime of harassing another by means of a computer.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That article three-c, chapter sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section fourteen-a, to read as follows:

ARTICLE 3C.  WEST VIRGINIA COMPUTER CRIME AND ABUSE ACT.

§61-3C-14a.  Obscene, anonymous, harassing and threatening communications by computer; penalty.


(a) It is unlawful for any person who, with the intent to harass or abuse another person, uses a computer to:

(1) Make any comment, request, suggestion or proposal which is obscene; or

(2) Make a contact without disclosing his or her identity; or

(3) Make contact repeatedly with a person after being requested by the person to desist from contacting them; or

(4) Threaten to commit a crime against any person or property.

(b) It is unlawful for any person to knowingly permit a computer under his or her control to be used for any purpose prohibited by this section.

(c) Any offense committed under this section may be determined to have occurred at the place at which the contact originated or the place at which the contact was intended to be received.


(d) Any person who violates a provision of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars, or confined in a county or regional jail not more than six months, or both.  For a second or subsequent offense, the person is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars or confined in a county or regional jail for not more than one year, or both.

 

 

 

 

NOTE:  The purpose of this bill is to make harassing another by means of a computer a misdemeanor.

 

This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.