Guam senators advance bill to expand first- and second‑degree criminal sexual conduct penalties for 14‑ and 15‑year‑old victims

Senator Duenas introduced Bill 33‑38 COR to amend Chapter 25, Title 9, Guam Code Annotated to expand who can be charged with first‑ and second‑degree criminal sexual conduct when the victim is 14 or 15 years old. The bill, as amended in committee, adds teachers and school aides, childcare and foster‑care providers, correctional facility workers, and people in dating relationships with a member of the victim’s household to the list of actors whose offenses would carry elevated penalties. "This bill, as enacted, will increase the culpability of certain . . . offenders who . . . assault crime victims who are 14 and 15 years of age and applies the strictest penalties for these perpetrators," Senator Duenas said during floor remarks.

The measure clarifies affinity and relationship definitions, uses the federal definition of "dating relationship" to avoid overbreadth, and explicitly excludes "Romeo and Juliet" cases involving consensual relationships where both parties are under 16. The Office of the Attorney General testified in support during the public hearing and recommended the committee amendments that the sponsor incorporated, the sponsor said.

Supporters described the bill as closing gaps that allow adults who hold positions of trust or who are in intimate relationships with household members to escape the elevated sentencing that applies when the perpetrator is a blood relative or household member. "We aim to ensure that offenders who abuse positions of trust face the highest levels of criminal accountability," one cosponsor said. Several senators urged specificity in the bill’s language to avoid unintended consequences in prosecution and on appeal; concerns focused on how a jury will determine when a relationship is a "dating relationship" and how Guam’s common‑law household arrangements interact with affinity rules.

Floor amendments approved without objection added "adoption" to the statutory definition of relationships that elevate a charge and created a definition of adoption in the statute. The bill was ordered to the third‑reading file after the sponsor proffered cosponsors and amendments.

Where it stands: the bill was advanced toward third reading after committee and floor amendments; no roll‑call vote on final passage appears in the provided transcript.

The transcript shows multiple senators speaking in support and asking clarifying questions; committee edits were made to address the Attorney General’s recommendations and to add adoption to the affinity language.