Committee hears bill to criminalize adults who encourage minors to commit offenses

Representative Koslow introduced House Bill 2808 at a public hearing of the Committee on Crime and Public Safety, saying the bill would "create the offense of permitting, encouraging, aiding, or causing a minor to commit an offense." Koslow said an adult who knowingly encouraged a minor who commits a misdemeanor would face a class C misdemeanor, and if the minor later commits a felony the adult could face a class A misdemeanor; the bill also would allow restitution to be assigned or shared with the adult.

The measure’s sponsor, Representative Koslow (District 108), said the proposal is intended to address areas where juvenile penalties have not been consistently enforced and to hold adults who exploit minors accountable. "We have an issue in certain areas of the state where juvenile justice penalties have been not enforced or severely lacking," Koslow said, adding that the bill is intended to cover adults who knowingly encourage minors to commit offenses, not to criminalize unwitting parents.

Committee members pressed the sponsor on several points. Representative Sites asked whether the bill could be used against parents who provide alcohol at private events or who unknowingly fail to stop minors from offending, citing a common graduation-party scenario. "Would something like this say that because my father engaged in…that was illegal to give a minor a Stroh's beer. Would this stop simple things like high school graduation parties?" Sites asked. Koslow replied that many of those acts (providing alcohol to a minor) are already illegal and that the draft targets knowing encouragement rather than inadvertent parental behavior.

Representative Fuchs questioned whether the bill would be limited to parents and how the courts currently treat adults who direct minors to commit offenses. Koslow said the intent was not to limit liability to parents and that the language should be revised if the bill currently reads that way: "It is not intended to be just the parent. I think we probably need to fix that." Koslow added that there are situations involving guardians or other adults who encourage minors to offend and they should be held liable when appropriate.

Representative Jones asked how prosecutors would prove encouragement or coercion; Koslow said the statute would follow existing criminal standards and require proof beyond a reasonable doubt. "Documented messages would be one; firsthand testimony could be as well," Koslow said, noting that electronic communications and patterns of behavior often provide evidence in modern prosecutions.

Representative Bannerman raised a broader constitutional and procedural concern about the bill’s phrasing, focusing on the clause that it "causes the minor to commit an offense in violation of state and federal law," and warned that the language could enable weaponizing investigative processes against parents or guardians. Koslow responded that the provision as intended would be secondary — it would apply after a minor has been adjudicated: "Keep in mind that this statute would only come after adjudication for the minor has happened…so the parents are not going to be investigated as a primary source. It is just if they have any causation."

No members of the public signed up to testify in support or opposition to House Bill 2808. The chair closed the hearing without a recorded committee action on the bill; next steps were not specified during the session.

The exchange left several drafting points noted by members: clarifying that liability is not limited to parents, tightening the "causes" language to reduce the risk of overreach, and preserving the requirement that prosecutions meet existing evidentiary standards.