Kentucky lawmakers have filed House Bill 4 to criminalize the grooming of children, aiming to intervene and charge predators before abuse occurs.
"Right now, we do not have any statutes that protect our children from this predatory behavior that occurs prior to physical, sexual abuse," State Representative Marianne Proctor said.
The bill, filed on Tuesday, would criminalize the grooming of children and hold offenders accountable for manipulative behavior that currently falls through legal gaps.
"Crimes are very specific, and sometimes it's hard to create laws that capture all of the behavior that we would want to deter. So we find ourselves with a lot of gaps," Lewis Kelley, the Boone County Commonwealth's Attorney, said.
House Bill 4 aims to fill those gaps by targeting the grooming process - the manipulative and deceptive methods predators use to build relationships with vulnerable children for abuse and exploitation.
"We're hoping to stop this thing before it starts, but it will also give us additional resources," Kelley said.
According to 2023 data from Norton Children's, Kentucky had 14,484 child abuse and neglect cases. Lawmakers hope this bill will reduce those numbers by penalizing grooming before it escalates to abuse.
"For law enforcement, it gives them a tool and a toolbox to at least charge somebody. It gives them something to do," Proctor said.
The law would protect children who communicate with someone in a position of trust who might attempt to skirt around safeguards established by the General Assembly.
The bill states that if the person is 18 or older and the victim is less than 14 years old, grooming would be classified as a Class A misdemeanor. If the victim is under 12, it would be a Class D felony.
If the adult holds a position of authority, like a teacher or coach, grooming would be classified as a Class D felony for crimes involving victims under 18, and a Class C felony if the victim is under 12 years old.
"Grooming is not something you just get caught up in. It is a decision you make to inflict harm on children, and in the commonwealth, I'm glad we're gonna be one of 13 states to have protections against our minors. Our most valuable assets are our children," Proctor said.
If this bill passes, Kentucky would join Ohio as one of several states with similar laws.
