Indiana governor signs bill to crack down on child predators

Indiana Gov. Mike Braun has signed a new law increasing penalties for child predators and tightening rules around how the state tracks them.

The legislation, HEA 1303, toughens penalties for crimes involving child sex abuse material by moving those offenses into a new section of state law with more serious felony classifications.

The proposal passed unanimously.

The measure also creates a new offense for distributing child sex abuse material, targeting those who share or circulate it online.

Additionally, the law expands sex offender registry requirements, requiring more offenders – including some coming from other states – to register and mandating lifetime registration for certain offenders.

It also strengthens restrictions after release, banning some offenders on parole from accessing websites used by children, restricting contact with minors and, in some cases, requiring them to wear monitoring devices to track their location.

The legislation also goes beyond criminal penalties, allowing employers to remove people convicted of certain sex crimes involving minors from jobs that involve working with children and to terminate their contracts.

Courts also must treat those convictions as a serious risk factor in custody and visitation decisions, with judges more likely to require supervised contact when a parent has a record involving child exploitation or molestation.

State officials say the changes come as crimes against children are rising. Indiana State Police arrested 499 people for crimes against children last year and rescued 126 children from ongoing abuse. Authorities received 29,635 cyber tips tied to exploitation, a 38% increase from the previous year, according to a release from Braun’s office.

Braun said the law is a response to that trend.

“We are taking decisive action to empower parents and protect Hoosier children from online predators,” Braun said in the release.

“These laws put stronger protections around children online, give parents more control, and strengthen Indiana’s ability to crack down on predators and child exploitation,” he added. “We are going to keep using every tool we have to protect kids, support families, and put predators who target children online behind bars.”

Braun also signed a separate measure, HEA 1408, requiring parental consent for children under 16 to use social media. The bill requires platforms to estimate users’ ages and flag accounts belonging to minors.

State Rep. Jeff Raatz, R-Richmond, said the law forces companies to take responsibility.

“Social media platforms are also required to use reasonable means to estimate the age of account holders and flag accounts for parental consent if they determine a user is younger than 16,” Raatz said in a release.

“This legislation sends a clear message that we are going to do everything in our power to protect Hoosier kids online,” he added.