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Click to a Sex Offense Glossary
Page:
- Does a victim have to struggle to prove she has been raped?
- Will a convicted rapist get the death penalty?
- What happens after a dangerous sex offender gets out of prison?
The common-law crime of rape was defined as unlawful sexual
intercourse by force between a man and a woman. Married men by
definition could not rape their wives because sexual intercourse in
the marriage was lawful. Any other sexual act was not unlawful.
Additionally, there were separate laws that punished sodomy and
bestiality. Force, or at least the threat of force, was
required, and a woman had to prove resistance to the act, usually by
intense physical struggle. Early statutes required corroboration
from independent witnesses before the offender could be found guilty.
Rape was a felony and the punishment always included imprisonment or
death.
Modern statutes prohibiting sexual assault have diversified rape
into a variety of crimes. Sexual assault is often defined to
include any sexual act done against the will of another. Some
state statutes specifically provide that it is unnecessary to
establish physical resistance by the victim to prove that the act
occurred against the victim's will. The laws are usually
gender-neutral so that they protect all victims of sexual assault.
Most state laws provide for varying degrees of sexual assault, with
the most serious crimes involving physical injury, gangs, or young
children. Many states also have passed rape-shield laws
¾rules of evidence¾that protect the victim by limiting the use of
the victim's prior sexual activity, thereby ensuring the focus of the
criminal trial stays on the defendant's conduct.
Other sex offenses can be found throughout most state criminal
codes. More and more states are repealing laws aimed at punishing
private sexual behavior between consenting adults, such as those
criminalizing adultery and homosexuality. However, new sex offenses
such as sexual exploitation by a therapist and sexual abuse of
children by child care workers have been added. Almost all states
prohibit indecent exposure, prostitution, incest, pornography, and
voyeurism.
Sentencing for sex offenders varies widely depending on the nature
of the offense. The Supreme Court has banned the use of the death
penalty for rape of an adult when it does not involve murder. However,
first-degree rape can carry the state's harshest sentences, short of
the death penalty. In contrast, indecent exposure may be classified as
a simple misdemeanor and carry a minimal jail sentence or fine. In
addition to incarceration or fines, many sex offenders are required to
undergo treatment plans designed to prevent further sex offenses.
Unfortunately, the most common treatments available to sex offenders
tend to be behavioral therapy and counseling, which have limited rates
of success. More promising results have been obtained with medication
and adversive conditioning. Many states have implemented laws
requiring sex offenders to register their addresses with police
departments once they are out of prison. The police departments are
then required to give notice to the community of the presence of the
sex offender. Laws that provide for civil commitment of serious sex
offenders after their prison sentence have been held to be
constitutional, provided the government establishes that the offender
has a mental abnormality that makes him or her likely to commit
further serious sex offenses.
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