HD.3761: An Act to Stop Profiling Transgender People and Low-Income Women
Section 1 of the bill demands striking out the language in Section 53 of Chapter 272 (“Crimes Against Chastity, Morality, Decency, and Good Order”) of General Laws: “Common night walkers, common street walkers, both male and female.” As of April 2018: “Common night walkers, common street walkers, both male and female, persons who with offensive and disorderly acts or language accost or annoy another person, lewd, wanton and lascivious persons in speech or behavior, keepers of noisy and disorderly houses, and persons guilty of indecent exposure shall be punished by imprisonment in a jail or house of correction for not more than 6 months, or by a fine of not more than $200, or by both such fine and imprisonment.”
Section 2 demands that Section 62 is then repealed. “If a complaint charges a person with being a common nightwalker, and it is proved at the trial that such person has been twice before convicted of the same offence, such person may be sentenced to the house of correction for not more than two and one half years or if a male, to the Massachusetts reformatory, or if a female, to the reformatory for women.”
Section 3 of the bill amends Chapter 94C by adding a section. “Any person who, in good faith, reports a crime shall not be charged or prosecuted for (i) possession of a controlled substance under section 34, (ii) sex for fee under chapter 272 subsections (a) or (b), or found in violation of a condition of probation or pretrial release as determined by a court or a condition of parole, as determined by the parole board if the evidence for the above enumerated offenses was gained as a result of reporting a crime.