Sex Crimes Against Women

Sex Crimes against Women

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Sex Crimes against Women

Sex crimes and sex offenses are serious issues. Sex crimes can be defined as any deviant activity, a forced sexual act or the exchange of sexual services for money. Some of the activities that may be counted as sex crimes include rape, sexual violence and abuse, sexual battery, indecent exposure, molestation, and online sex crimes, etc. States gives rights to the citizens to protect themselves against any sort of sexual violence and crimes. Statistics reveal that approximately 1 in 5 women experience sexual violence at least once in their lives in the United States. These crimes are not limited to women but children and men have also been the victims of sex crimes. However, this discussion is limited to sex crimes and violence against women.

Against any form of violence and abuse against women, Congress passed Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) declaring violence against women a major criminal activity. President Obama updated the VAWA in 2013 by approving upgraded service for the victims of violence ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"yvKTvs7m","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(California Women\\uc0\\u8217{}s Law Center, n.d.)","plainCitation":"(California Women’s Law Center, n.d.)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":675,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/orkqtrjP/items/NSIBNCR4"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/orkqtrjP/items/NSIBNCR4"],"itemData":{"id":675,"type":"post-weblog","title":"Violence Against Women | California Women's Law Center","URL":"https://www.cwlc.org/learn/violence-against-women/","language":"en-US","author":[{"literal":"California Women's Law Center"}],"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",7,14]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (California Women’s Law Center, n.d.). Despite these actions and steps, according to the California Women’s Law Center (CWLC) realizes the prevalence of sexual violence against women. Weak laws and regulations and policies result is a common factor in the promotion of sexual crimes against women along with the societal and individual factors. Sex crimes against women include marital rape, unwanted sexual touching, rape, coerced sexual contact, Forcible sodomy, etc. many states have made separate laws for each of the forms of sexual violence.

The laws related to sexual assault must be prosecuted through the sexual battery and assault laws of the state of California. The sexual assault laws prohibit touching of intimate body organs. California Penal Code Section 243.4 deals with the sexual battery and assault punishment and penalties. The possible penalties for minor sexual battery range from 6 months in prison and a fine of about $2,000 to $3000. For the serious sexual battery case, the punishments are so many such as imprisonment for about 2 to 4 years and a fine up to $10,000. The permission is considered as a defensive argument. The sexual assault and touching often lead to rape, a major sexual crime.

According to the California State laws, rape will be considered in the situation of defendant used physical force, the victim's unconscious or lacked the ability to consent. The California Penal Code Section 261, Section 262, Section 261.5, deals with the definition of rape while Section 264 deals with the punishments for rape crimes. Generally, the punishment for the rape is a sentence of imprisonment for 3, 6 or 8 years in state prison. However, the potentials sentence may increase if the defendant holds some other person as a partner in crime. In addition, other conditions for the increase in a potential sentence is the age of rape victim, if he is a child or minor. According to the California state laws, civil penalties for rape ranges from $2,000 to $25,000 in the form of fines.

Penal Code 286 PC, deals with the unlawful acts of sodomy. Most of these acts are charged as California "wobbler" offense. The punishment ranges from a fine of $1,000 to $10,000 and imprisonment of 1 year to 16 months. Punishment for sodomy also depends on the age and condition of the victim. Penal Code 289 deals with the punishment and laws for Forcible Acts of Sexual Penetration ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"AVPreBlS","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(California Legislative Information, n.d.)","plainCitation":"(California Legislative Information, n.d.)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":677,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/orkqtrjP/items/MJBUUUGP"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/orkqtrjP/items/MJBUUUGP"],"itemData":{"id":677,"type":"webpage","title":"Law section","URL":"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=243.4.&lawCode=PEN","author":[{"literal":"California Legislative Information"}],"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",7,14]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (California Legislative Information, n.d.). The punishment also takes forms of imprisonment and fines depending on the victim and the nature of the crime. One form of a sex crime can lead to more severe crime and the victim can suffer from more than one form of violence at a time.

References

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY California Legislative Information. (n.d.). Law section. Retrieved July 14, 2019, from https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=243.4.&lawCode=PEN

California Women’s Law Center. (n.d.). Violence Against Women | California Women’s Law Center. Retrieved July 14, 2019, from https://www.cwlc.org/learn/violence-against-women/