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The Indiana Supreme Court made a direct request of the Indiana General Assembly in a recent ruling, asking them to address a “jurisdictional gap” in Indiana laws that allows people who commit child molestation before their 18th birthday, but who are not charged with the crime until after they turn 21, to escape prosecution.

IU McKinney 3L Natalie Wichern is studying this exact issue in a forthcoming Note to be published in Indiana Law Review Volume 56 I. Her analysis points to a statutory fix for the problem.

Wichern was quoted in an Indiana Lawyer article about the issue and potential solutions, saying, “I think one big question … is do they add child molesting to the direct-file offenses, or do they carve out their own specific statute addressing this?” she said. “My stance from studying this is that we need a very tailored law — our own specific addition in the code similar to House Bill 1198. Because although adding child molesting to the direct-file statute would probably be the easiest fix, I think that throws off the balance and the purpose of the juvenile justice system.”
Wichern said she was encouraged to pursue the topic by professors Joel Schumm, J.D. ’98, and Frank Sullivan, Jr. as well as Will Alter, J.D. ’22.

The “jurisdictional gap” could be addressed by the state legislature as early as 2023.