Sen. Joan Lovely, D-Salem

A bill championed by Sen. Joan Lovely, D-Salem, bill would increase the age of sexual consent in schools from 16 to 19, and up to 22 for developmentally disabled students.

Getting your player ready...

BOSTON — Lawmakers and advocates for sexual assault victims are renewing a push on Beacon Hill to close “loopholes” in state laws they say have made Massachusetts an outlier by allowing child predators to go unpunished.

A pair of legislative committees heard testimony this week on a raft of bills that would criminalize sexual assault by adults in positions of authority, regardless of the age of consent, require schools to adopt sex abuse prevention policies, and improve training and screening of employees to identify past sexual misconduct.

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