Consent is a voluntary, clear, continuous, mutually understandable permission, given by words or actions, regarding one’s willingness to engage in sexual activity. A sexual interaction is considered consensual when individuals willingly and knowingly engage in the interaction.
And about the non-consensual, it is any intentional sexual touching, however slight, with any part of the body or any object, by a person upon another person, that is without consent and/or by force. Sexual Contact includes intentional contact with the breasts, buttock, groin, or genitals, or touching another with any of these body parts, or making another touch you or themselves with or on any of these body parts; or any other intentional bodily contact in a sexual manner.
Possible Penalties
Penalties: Imprisonment
Sexual assault laws regarding rape and criminal sexual penetration usually define this conduct as a felony with serious penalties. Many states have degrees of the crime, such as a rape in the first and second degree, depending on the vulnerability of the victim, the type of force used, whether the rape resulted in serious bodily injury, and whether it was committed with a deadly weapon, such as a rape at gun point.
Sentences for rape can range from one year to even life in prison, depending on the provisions of each state’s sentencing statute or sentencing guidelines, the victim’s age or status, and the circumstances of the crime. Some states require a minimum prison sentence or require the court to impose a prison sentence without probation or early parole. In other states, the judge may have some discretion on the length of the sentence and whether to allow the defendant to serve any portion of the sentence on probation rather than in prison.
Penalties: Treatment
A person convicted of a sex crime also will face penalties other than jail or prison. Sex offenders normally are required to undergo treatment either in jail or prison or as a condition of probation.
Penalties: Sexual Offender Registration
Every state in the U.S. has a sex offender registration and notification program. Sex offender registry statutes require that a person convicted of a sex offense register with the sex offender registry in the state where he resides. A sex offense requiring registration is any crime that includes sexual penetration or sexual contact as an element.
Registration as a sex offender requires a person to have his name, address, and information about his crime on file with the registry. Some or all of that information is available to the public, and every state has a sex offender web site that the public can search. Being placed on a sex offender registry will have serious and possibly life-long consequences to the registrant, making it difficult to find employment and housing.
