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S 3164Violent Crime Penalties

Criminal Offenses - Assaults

This bill makes it a felony to assault assistant attorneys general, certain environmental employees, and constables while on duty.

Held for study
Population
Affected
15
Email Legislator
Introduced Mar 27, 2026Committee Senate Judiciary

Plain-English Summary

This bill expands the state's felony assault law to include additional public officials. It adds assistant attorneys general, special assistant attorneys general, Department of Environmental Management employees responsible for administrative inspections, and authorized constables to the protected list. Under this law, knowingly and willfully striking or spraying these officials with noxious chemicals (like Mace) while they are performing their duties, causing bodily injury, is classified as a felony. The penalty for this crime is up to three years in prison, a fine of up to $1,500, or both.

For younger readers

This bill changes a law about protecting people who work for the government. If someone hurts certain workers while they are doing their job, like state lawyers, environmental inspectors, or court helpers called constables, it is considered a very serious crime called a felony. A person who hits them or sprays them with pepper spray and causes them injury could go to prison for up to three years or have to pay a fine of $1,500.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups
Assistant attorneys generalDepartment of Environmental Management employeesConstablesCriminal defendantsState employees
Impacted communities
All

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

None Likely. The bill simply expands the classification of an existing felony assault statute to include additional public officials. It does not appear to infringe upon free speech, due process, or protection from unreasonable searches and seizures.

Estimated cost
Amount unknown
Estimated revenue
Up to $1,500/fine per conviction

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints
For Progressives
  • Enhances workplace safety protections for public sector workers, ensuring they are shielded from physical violence while performing their daily duties.
  • Protects environmental management employees, supporting those who are tasked with safeguarding the community's natural resources and public health from potential hostility.
  • Clearly defines the specific public service roles covered by the statute, preventing the enhanced penalties from being applied too broadly to unrelated situations.
  • Expands the scope of felony charges, which could lead to increased incarceration rates and disproportionately harm marginalized communities already targeted by the justice system.
  • Elevates assaults on specific government employees to a higher criminal tier than identical assaults on everyday citizens, creating a tiered and unequal justice system.
  • Imposes severe felony punishments, including up to three years in prison, for altercations that progressives might argue should be handled through restorative justice or lesser charges.
For Conservatives
  • Promotes law and order by imposing strict felony penalties on individuals who commit acts of violence against government officials and law enforcement-adjacent personnel.
  • Protects the rule of law by deterring violence against prosecutors and constables who are essential to enforcing court orders and legal statutes.
  • Establishes clear financial penalties and prison sentences to hold criminals strictly accountable for their violent actions against those serving the public.
  • Grants special legal protections to government bureaucrats, such as environmental inspectors, elevating their status and safety above that of private citizens and business owners.
  • Could be weaponized by state agencies to severely punish citizens who have physical altercations with regulatory officials over property or business inspections.
  • Expands the power and special privileges of the state government by broadening the list of officials shielded by enhanced criminal statutes.

Votes

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Full Bill Text

Changes to existing Rhode Island law · 2 additions

SECTION 1. Section 11-5-5 of the General Laws in Chapter 11-5 entitled "Assaults" is hereby amended to read as follows: 11-5-5. Assault of police officers and other officials. Any person who shall make an assault or battery, or both, by knowingly and willfully either

(1) striking, or (2) spraying with a noxious chemical, commonly used as a personal defense weapon, including Mace and an oleoresin capsicum product or like products, a uniformed member of the state police or metropolitan park police, environmental police officer, state properties patrol officer, probation and parole officers, state government case worker or investigator, judge of the supreme, superior, family, district court, traffic tribunal or municipal court, deputy sheriff, city or town police officer or firefighter, member of the capitol police, member of campus security force of state colleges and universities, member of the Rhode Island airport police department, member of the Rhode Island fugitive task force, Rhode Island public transit authority bus driver, or on-duty plainclothes member of the town, city, or state police force, investigator of the department of the attorney general appointed pursuant to § 42-9-8.1, or member of the railroad police after proper identification is displayed, or any railroad worker, or uniformed dog officer, or out-of-state police officer called into Rhode Island under a cooperative agreement to provide mutual aid at the request of the state of Rhode Island pursuant to chapter 37 of title 42, or assistant attorney general or special assistant attorney general, or employees of the department of environmental management responsible for administrative inspections or any constable authorized by chapter 45-16 of the Rhode Island general law causing bodily injury while the officer or official is engaged in the performance of his or her duty, shall be deemed to have committed a felony, and shall be imprisoned not exceeding three (3) years, or fined not exceeding fifteen hundred dollars ($1,500), or both.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.