Sexual offense; provide immunity for reporting.

Legal protections for sexual offense reporters

Beginning July 1, 2025, Mississippi protects people who seek help for or report covered sexual offenses in good faith. Alcohol protections cover victims and witnesses who give officers their full name and other requested relevant information. Evidence of the alcohol offense must come from their request for help or report. Officers cannot cite, detain, or arrest them solely for that alcohol offense. They also cannot be prosecuted solely for alcohol possession or consumption. The covered incident cannot cause revocation of pretrial release, probation, supervised release, or parole. Separate drug protections bar arrest, charges, and prosecution for covered drug violations when someone seeks medical help or reports the offense. These cover evidence of drug possession or being under the influence at the time of the offense, request, or report. Covered possession amounts are less than 4 grams, fewer than 20 dosage units, or less than 1 milliliter, with special weight rules for substances carried in another material. Drug protections do not cover anyone alleged to have committed the reported sexual offense. These protections do not excuse other crimes.