Session: 2019-2020
ACLU-PA Position: Opposes
HB 1827 (PN 2498) amends Title 18 § 2505 to require the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing to establish a sentence enhancement for causing or aiding suicide when, at the time of the offense, the person who died by suicide is under 18 years old or has an intellectual disability. Causing or aiding suicide is already heavily penalized under current law. And there is nothing in HB 1827 that requires a person to know (or reasonably know) that the person is under 18 years old or has an intellectual disability in order to enhance a second-degree felony to first-degree, which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and $25,000 in fines.
