There are two types of sexual violence that people can be charged with. The first of these is rape, the second is sexual battery. In a court of law, it is very common indeed for a lawyer to attempt to bring the charges down if their client is the one being accused of rape. Hence, it is very important to understand the various ways in which people end up getting convicted as well as what they can do to prevent themselves from going to jail in such situations.
Rape has a separate category when it comes to the punishments that are meted out for this kind of activity. Sexual battery, on the other hand, can result in a conviction from any of four separate categories. First and foremost, it is important to understand what these two acts are.
Rape is any sexual act involving penetration where one of the partners did not consent to initiating or taking part in the act. This can result in a lot of complications because of the fact that there are a lot of different ways in which consent can be obtained, and this has often resulted in a lot of innocent people going to jail over the years.
Sexual battery, on the other hand, is usually a lot more clear cut. It involves assault committed against someone that was sexual in nature. The violence can vary, but it always involves groping or other forms of non consensual touching as well as forced non consensual touching of the attacker by the victim. Depending on the severity of the assault, the sexual battery charge can result in jail time lasting anywhere between five to twenty years. The reason that sexual battery is more clear cut is that it more often involves physical violence which can leave marks such as bruises and cuts.
In these cases, DNA evidence is always key. If the attacker left semen or other bodily fluids on the victim’s person then getting a conviction is going to be a lot easier than it would have been otherwise. The important thing to remember here is that most juries are rather sympathetic to a victim that has marks on them, which is a problem because there are legitimate rape victims that were coerced into sex using threats of violence rather than actually being forced through violence who do not get taken seriously because they do not look as damaged as someone with bruises and cuts.
Maryland sexual battery and rape laws do need a lot of improvement because of the fact that they tend to make it difficult for rape victims to be taken seriously and they often ignore the intricacies of things like consent by considering it to be black and white. That being said, they already exist which makes it a lot easier to improve upon them in the future, and set precedents that would make it easier to convict rapists and assaulters in the future.
Maryland Rape and Sexual Battery Laws – call us at 888-437-7747.