HB 60 CRIME OF DESECRATION OF A DEAD HUMAN BODY

Rep Stefanie Lord

Actions: HPREF [2] not prntd-HRC

Scheduled: Not Scheduled

  House Bill 50 (HB 60) creates the crimes of criminal desecration of a dead human body, criminal sexual contact with a dead human body, and criminal sexual penetration of a dead human body, and prescribes penalties. 

 House Bill 60 (HB 60) creates the crimes of criminal desecration of a dead human body (fourth degree felony), criminal sexual contact with a dead human body (third degree felony), and criminal sexual penetration of a dead human body (second degree felony). Specific definitions are provided for each. 

 New Mexico is one of five U.S. states without a law against necrophilia, though it was addressed in 2021 when the state Supreme Court ruled legal protections against rape apply to people who died. If the law does not pass, the acts as defined would continue to not be addressed directly under the law, and many specific cases would need to be dealt with individually without benefit of explicit legal protections.