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H 7648Criminal Procedure

Criminal Offenses - Sexual Assault

This bill requires police to electronically report sexual assault cases to the courts, including data on language barriers.

Signed into law36 Yea0 Nay1 Not voting
Population
Affected
15
Email Legislator
Introduced Feb 11, 2026Committee House Judiciary

Plain-English Summary

This legislation updates the procedures for law enforcement when reporting sexual assault and child molestation incidents to the state court system. It mandates that police departments electronically submit a specific "domestic violence/sexual assault reporting form" along with the corresponding police report narratives to the domestic violence training and monitoring unit. The bill adds a requirement to document language barriers on this form. It also establishes specific timelines for submission and requires the unit to expunge (delete) the reporting form if the accused individual is acquitted or the case is dismissed.

For younger readers

This new rule changes how police officers share information about serious crimes where someone has been hurt in a private way. Instead of using paper forms, police officers will use a computer to send reports to a special office in the courts. They must also write down if the people involved speak a different language and need help understanding. If a judge decides the person accused of the crime didn't do it, the special office must delete the form so there is no record of it against that person.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups
Law Enforcement AgenciesVictims of Sexual AssaultIndividuals Accused of Sexual AssaultCourt AdministratorsNon-English Speakers
Impacted communities
All

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

None Likely

Estimated cost
None
Estimated revenue
None

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints
For Progressives
  • Mandates the collection of data regarding language barriers, which helps identify gaps in services for non-English speakers and promotes equity in the justice system.
  • Requires the expungement of reporting forms upon acquittal or dismissal, protecting innocent individuals from having permanent records in state monitoring databases.
  • Centralizes police narratives and data within a court monitoring unit, potentially increasing accountability and providing better statistics to analyze systemic issues in sexual assault handling.
  • Relying on police determination of "probable cause" to trigger reporting may still result in under-reporting of incidents where officers dismiss victim claims prematurely.
  • The centralization of detailed police report narratives into a state database raises potential privacy concerns for victims regarding who has access to sensitive details of their trauma.
  • Focuses primarily on procedural data collection rather than allocating new resources for victim support services or prevention education.
For Conservatives
  • Protects the due process rights of the accused by mandating the expungement of records upon acquittal or dismissal, preventing government stigmatization of innocent citizens.
  • Modernizes government operations by shifting to electronic submission, which increases efficiency and likely reduces long-term administrative costs associated with paper processing.
  • Improves the quality of data available to law enforcement and the courts, allowing for better analysis of crime trends and more effective resource allocation for public safety.
  • Expands the scope of government data collection by requiring the submission of full police report narratives to a central state unit, which may be viewed as government overreach.
  • Imposes additional administrative mandates on local police departments regarding how and when they must file specific reports.
  • Creates a centralized database of sensitive information that could be vulnerable to security breaches or misuse by government actors.

Votes

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Full Bill Text

Changes to existing Rhode Island law · 24 additions · 12 deletions

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 11-37-13.3 of the General Laws in Chapter 11-37 entitled "Sexual Assault" is hereby amended to read as follows: 11-37-13.3. Sexual assault reports.

(a) A law enforcement officer who responds to or investigates a sexual assault or child molestation sexual assault incident, shall, upon determination of probable cause for arrest or referral to the attorney general’s office, complete a sexual assault report (DV/SA-1) domestic violence/sexual assault reporting form.

(b) For the purpose of establishing accurate data on the extent and severity of arrests for sexual assault incidents and child molestation sexual assault in the state and on the degree of compliance with the requirements of this section the domestic violence training and monitoring unit of the court system within the administrative office of state courts shall prescribe a form and process for making submitting sexual assault reports and/or child molestation sexual assault information to the unit. The form shall include, but is not limited to, the following information:

(1) Name of the parties;

(2) Relationship of the parties;

(3) Sex of the parties;

(4) Date of birth of the parties;

(5) Time and date of the alleged incident;

(6) Whether children were allegedly involved or whether the alleged act of sexual assault or child molestation sexual assault was committed in the presence of children;

(7) Type and extent of the alleged abuse;

(8) Number and types of alleged weapons involved;

(9) Existence of any prior court order; and

(10) Existence of any language barriers; and (10)(11) Any other data that may be necessary for a complete analysis of all circumstances leading to the arrest of an incident subject to reporting under this section.

(c) Each police law enforcement department shall forward copies of the reports to the unit at the end of each month electronically submit the domestic violence/sexual assault reporting forms and the corresponding police report narratives to the unit at the end of each month. For those cases that were still under investigation or for which an arrest warrant had been issued, but not yet executed in a given month, the responsible law enforcement department shall electronically submit the domestic violence/sexual assault reporting forms and the corresponding police report narratives as soon as practicable, but no later than the end of the calendar year in which the incident occurred.

(d) Upon adjudication of acquittal, dismissal or other exoneration the domestic violence/sexual assault report reporting form will be expunged by the domestic violence training and monitoring unit.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.