Bill > HB1059

This bill aims to strengthen protections for children by implementing mandatory minimum penalties for felony child abuse, increasing penalties for severe child abuse, and requiring prompt arrests of suspected child abusers. Specifically, it amends existing Mississippi law to ensure that individuals convicted of certain severe forms of child abuse, such as burning, torture, strangulation, poisoning, starvation, or using a deadly weapon on a child, face a mandatory minimum prison sentence of five years, with life imprisonment for second or subsequent offenses. It also clarifies that allowing the continuing physical or sexual abuse of a child is a felony and mandates imprisonment for up to ten years. Furthermore, the bill mandates that law enforcement agencies must arrest individuals suspected of burning, torturing, mutilating, or otherwise physically abusing a child in a manner causing serious bodily harm within 48 hours of learning about the abuse. Finally, it excludes felony child abuse from certain sentence reductions, meaning individuals convicted of felony child abuse will not be eligible for parole after serving only a portion of their sentence, as is common for other non-violent offenses.

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https://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/2026/pdf/history/HB/HB1059.xml