Promising Practices in Serving Crime Victims with Disabilities Steering Committee

The Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office is striving to make sure that law enforcement and  the criminal justice is accessible to all.  If you are a victim with a disability and require assistance contact the Police Social Services Section at 985-449-4476.  Someone in that office will help to make sure that any accommodations you might require because of your disability are in place as you go through the criminal justice process.

1. Safety Tips from Sgt. Valerie Day
2. Peace of Mind Book
3. Put a pointer to the crime victim video (still at closed captioner)
4. identity theft
5. Crime Victims Reparations

Agencies that provide services to individuals with disabilities and their families:

Statutes pertaining to victims with disabilities:

RS 14:35.2

§35.2.  Simple battery of the infirm

A.  Simple battery of the infirm is a battery committed against an infirm, disabled, or aged person who is incapable of consenting to the battery due to either of the following:

(1)  Advanced age.

(2)  Unsoundness of mind, stupor, abnormal condition of the mind, or other mental or developmental disability, regardless of the age of the victim.

B.  For purposes of this Section, "infirm, disabled, or aged person" shall include but not be limited to any individual who is a resident of a nursing home, mental retardation facility, mental health facility, hospital, or other residential facility, or any individual who is sixty years of age or older.  Lack of knowledge of the person's age shall not be a defense.

C.  Whoever commits the crime of battery¹ of the infirm shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars and imprisoned not less than thirty days nor more than six months, or both.

Acts 1999, No. 1056, §1.

¹ As appears in enrolled bill.

RS 14:42

§42.  Aggravated rape

A.  Aggravated rape is a rape committed upon a person sixty-five years of age or older or where the anal, oral, or vaginal sexual intercourse is deemed to be without lawful consent of the victim because it is committed under any one or more of the following circumstances:

1. When the victim resists the act to the utmost, but whose resistance is overcome by force.

2.  When the victim is prevented from resisting the act by threats of great and immediate bodily harm, accompanied by apparent power of execution.

3. When the victim is prevented from resisting the act because the offender is armed with a dangerous weapon.

4. When the victim is under the age of thirteen years.  Lack of knowledge of the victim's age shall not be a defense.

5. When two or more offenders participated in the act.

6. When the victim is prevented from resisting the act because the victim suffers from a physical or mental infirmity preventing such resistance.

B.  For purposes of Paragraph (5), "participate" shall mean:

1. Commit the act of rape.

2. Physically assist in the commission of such act.

C.  For purposes of this Section, the following words have the following meanings:

1. "Physical infirmity" means a person who is a quadriplegic or paraplegic.

2. "Mental infirmity" means a person with an intelligence quotient of seventy or lower.

D.

1. Whoever commits the crime of aggravated rape shall be punished by life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence.

2. However, if the victim was under the age of twelve years, as provided by Paragraph A(4) of this Section:

1. And if the district attorney seeks a capital verdict, the offender shall be punished by death or life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence, in accordance with the determination of the jury.  The provisions of C.Cr.P. Art. 782 relative to cases in which punishment may be capital shall apply.

2. And if the district attorney does not seek a capital verdict, the offender shall be punished by life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence.  The provisions of C.Cr.P. Art. 782 relative to cases in which punishment is necessarily confinement at hard labor shall apply.

Acts 1978, No. 239, §1.  Amended by Acts 1981, No. 707, §1; Acts 1984, No. 579, §1; Acts 1993, No. 630, §1; Acts 1995, No. 397, §1; Acts 1997, No. 757, §1; Acts 1997, No. 898, §1; Acts 2001, No. 301, §1; Acts 2003, No. 795, §1.

RS 14:93.3

3.  OFFENSES AFFECTING THE HEALTH AND SAFETY OF THE INFIRM

§93.3.  Cruelty to the infirmed

A.  Cruelty to the infirmed is the intentional or criminally negligent mistreatment or neglect by any person, including a caregiver, whereby unjustifiable pain, malnourishment, or suffering is caused to the infirmed, a disabled adult, or an aged person, including but not limited to a person who is a resident of a nursing home, mental retardation facility, mental health facility, hospital, or other residential facility.

B.  "Caregiver" is defined as any person or persons who temporarily or permanently is responsible for the care of the infirmed, physically or mentally disabled adult, or aged person, whether such care is voluntarily assumed or is assigned.  Caregiver includes but is not limited to adult children, parents, relatives, neighbors, daycare institutions and facilities, adult congregate living facilities, and nursing homes which or who have voluntarily assumed or been assigned the care of an aged or infirmed person or disabled adult, or have assumed voluntary residence with an aged or infirmed person or disabled adult.

C.   For the purposes of this Section, an aged person is any individual sixty years of age or older.

D.  The providing of treatment by a caregiver in accordance with a well-recognized spiritual method of healing, in lieu of medical treatment, shall not for that reason alone be considered the intentional or criminally negligent mistreatment or neglect of an infirmed, a disabled adult, or an aged person.  The provisions of this Subsection shall be an affirmative defense to a prosecution under this Section.

E.

1. Whoever commits the crime of cruelty to any infirmed person, disabled adult, or aged person shall be fined not more than ten thousand dollars or imprisoned with or without hard labor for not more than ten years, or both.

2. Upon a second or subsequent conviction, the offender shall be fined not more than ten thousand dollars and imprisoned at hard labor for not less than five years nor more than ten years.  Five years of the sentence of imprisonment imposed shall be served without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence.

Added by Acts 1981, No. 850, §1; Acts 1987, No. 87, §1, eff. June 18, 1987; Acts 1994, 3rd Ex. Sess., No. 26, §1; Acts 1995, No. 841, §1; Acts 1995, No. 883, §1; Acts 2003, No. 434, §1.

RS 14:67.21

§67.21.  Theft of the assets of an aged person or disabled person

A.  As used in this Section the following terms have the following meanings:

1. "Aged person" is any person sixty years of age or older.

2. "Disabled person" is a person eighteen years of age or older who has a mental, physical, or developmental disability that substantially impairs the person's ability to provide adequately for his own care or protection.

3. "Health care" is any expense resulting from medical, personal, residential, or other care provided or assistance received from any adult day care facility, adult foster home, adult congregate living facility, nursing home, or other institution or agency responsible for the care of any aged or disabled person.

B.  Theft of the assets of an aged person or disabled person is any of the following:

1. The intentional use, consumption, conversion, management, or appropriation of an aged person's or disabled person's funds, assets, or property which is required or designated for such person's health care without his authorization or consent for the profit, advantage, or benefit of a person other than the aged person or disabled person without his authorization or consent.

2. The intentional misuse of an aged or disabled person's power of attorney to use, consume, convert, manage, or appropriate any funds, assets, or property of an aged person or disabled person which is required or designated for such person's health care for the profit, advantage, or benefit of a person other than the aged person or disabled person without his authorization or consent.

C.

1. Whoever commits the crime of theft of the assets of an aged person or disabled person when the value of the theft equals five hundred dollars or more may be imprisoned, with or without hard labor, for not more than ten years and shall be fined not more than three thousand dollars, or both.

2. Whoever commits the crime of theft of the assets of an aged person or disabled person when the value of the theft equals three hundred dollars or more, but less than five hundred dollars may be imprisoned, with or without hard labor, for not more than two years and shall be fined not more than two thousand dollars, or both.

3. Whoever commits the crime of theft of the assets of an aged person or disabled person when the value of the theft equals three hundred dollars or less may be imprisoned for not more than six months and shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars, or both.

4. In any case in which an offender has been previously convicted of theft of the assets of an aged person or disabled person the offender shall be imprisoned, with or without hard labor, for not less than two years, and shall be fined not less than two thousand dollars, or both, regardless of the value of the instant theft.

D.  When there have been a number of distinct acts of theft of the assets of an aged person or disabled person, the aggregate of the values of each act shall determine the grade of the offense.

E.  In addition to all other penalties, a person convicted under this Section shall be ordered to make full restitution to the victim and any other person who has suffered a financial loss as a result of the offense.  If a person ordered to make restitution pursuant to this Section is found to be indigent and therefore unable to make restitution in full at the time of conviction, the court shall order a periodic payment plan consistent with the person's financial ability.

F.  Any charges made under this Section shall be reported as provided in R.S. 14:403.2.

Acts 2001, No. 1011, §1.

RS 14:93.4

§93.4.  Exploitation of the infirmed

A.  Exploitation of the infirmed is:

1. The intentional expenditure, diminution, or use by any person, including a caregiver, of the property or assets of the infirmed, a disabled adult, or an aged person, including but not limited to a resident of a nursing home, mental retardation facility, mental health facility, hospital, or other residential facility without the express voluntary consent of the resident or the consent of a legally authorized representative of an incompetent resident, or by means of fraudulent conduct, practices, or representations.

2. The use of an infirmed person's, or aged person's, or disabled adult's power of attorney or guardianship for one's own profit or advantage by means of fraudulent conduct, practices, or representations.

B.  Whoever commits the crime of exploitation of the infirmed shall be fined not more than ten thousand dollars or imprisoned, with or without hard labor, for not more than ten years, or both.

C.  Whoever is convicted, or who enters a plea agreement for exploitation of the infirmed shall be prohibited from having access to the victim's or any other disabled or aged person's assets or property.  The offender shall be prohibited from being appointed as a power of attorney¹ or guardian for the victim or any other disabled or aged person.  The provisions of this Subsection shall not be construed to prohibit the offender from inheriting from the infirmed victim.

Acts 1992, No. 309, §1; Acts 1994, 3rd Ex. Sess., No. 26, §1; Acts 1995, No. 883, §1; Acts 1999, No. 1044, §1.

¹As appears in enrolled bill.

RS 14:93.5

§93.5.  Sexual battery of the infirm

A.  Sexual battery of the infirm is the intentional engaging in any of the sexual acts listed in Subsection B with another person, who is not the spouse of the offender, when:

1. The offender compels the victim, who is physically incapable of preventing the act because of advanced age or physical infirmity, to submit by placing the victim in fear of receiving bodily harm.  

2. The victim is incapable of resisting or of understanding the nature of the act by reason of stupor or abnormal condition of the mind produced by an intoxicating, narcotic, or anesthetic agent administered by or with the privity of the offender.  

3. The victim has such incapacity, by reason of a stupor or abnormal condition of mind from any cause, and the offender knew or should have known of the victim's incapacity.  

4. The victim is incapable, through unsoundness of mind, whether temporary or permanent, of understanding the nature of the act, and the offender knew or should have known of the victim's incapacity.  

B.  For purposes of this Section, "sexual acts" mean the following:

1. The touching of the anus or genitals of the victim by the offender using any instrumentality or any part of the body of the offender; or

2. The touching of the anus or genitals of the offender by the victim using any instrumentality or any part of the body of the victim.  

C.  Normal medical treatment and normal sanitary care shall not be construed as an offense under the provisions of this Section.  

D.  Whoever commits the crime of sexual battery of the infirm shall be punished by imprisonment, with or without hard labor, for not more than ten years.  

Acts 1992, No. 617, §1.