Is dry humping sexual assault? Can fully-clothed dry-humping someone without consent count as rape? And if not, what sort of offense is it? If found guilty, what would a typical punishment be in the US? Does it matter whether the victim is under-aged? Does it matter if the perpetrator is in a position of authority? (Say the perpetrator is a high school teacher and the victim is a high-school student.)
Most states have two parallel sets of sexual assault statutes. One set punishes sexual assaults involving sexual penetration that has greater penalties. The other set punishes sexual assaults involving sexual contact without sexual penetration that has smaller penalties but otherwise the same elements of the offense. Usually, almost every offense which is a crime when it involves sexual penetration is also a crime when it involves sexual contact but not sexual penetration, with the fairly frequent exception of statutory rape offenses that cover an adolescent victim who is below the age of consent but post-pubescent (with the statute itself setting specific age thresholds that vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction). Often, even when statutory rape of an adolescent (i.e. sex with consent by an adolescent under the age of consent) itself is a relatively minor crime, often a misdemeanor, and is rarely prosecuted to the full extent of the law, child prostitution or attempted child prostitution with the same victim is often a very serious offense, and child pornography offenses often also carry serious penalties when the &quot;child&quot; is under the age of eighteen, even when the sexual act filmed or photographed itself is of people who are above the age of consent and are legally having consensual sex. In many states, sex with someone in a position of authority over the victim is a crime without regard to consent, much like a statutory rape offense, but without regard to age. In some states there would be a parallel sexual contact offense, and in some states there would not be one. The name of the offenses varies considerably from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Sometimes they are different degrees of the same offense, sometimes they are offenses with different names, and the names used varies quite a bit. Also, even when an arguable sexual contact offense is not a sex offense, it would almost always be some form of non-sexual criminal assault offense. For example, Colorado has sexual assault related crimes called sexual assault at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-3-402 (involving sexual penetration and including two grades of statutory rape, and including cases where &quot;the victim is in custody of law or detained in a hospital or other institution and the actor has supervisory or disciplinary authority over the victim and uses this position of authority to coerce the victim to submit, unless the act is incident to a lawful search&quot; and cases where &quot;the actor, while purporting to offer a medical service, engages in treatment or examination of a victim for other than a bona fide medical purpose or in a manner substantially inconsistent with reasonable medical practices&quot;), a parallel crime called unlawful sexual contact at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-3-404 (not involving sexual penetration, including cases where &quot;the victim is in custody of law or detained in a hospital or other institution and the actor has supervisory or disciplinary authority over the victim and uses this position of authority to coerce the victim to submit, unless the act is incident to a lawful search&quot; and cases where &quot;the actor, while purporting to offer a medical service, engages in treatment or examination of a victim for other than a bona fide medical purpose or in a manner substantially inconsistent with reasonable medical practices&quot;), a crime called sexual assault on a child at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-3-405, sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-3-405.3, internet sexual exploitation of a child at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-3-405.4, sexual assault on a client by a psychotherapist at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-3-405.5, incest at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-6-301, criminal extortion at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-3-207, second degree kidnapping at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-3-302, aggravated incest at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-6-302, human trafficking for sexual servitude at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-3-504, sexual exploitation of a child at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-6-403, procurement of a child for sexual exploitation at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-6-404; soliciting for child prostitution at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-7-402, pandering of a child at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-7-403, procurement of a child at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-7-403.5, keeping a place of child prostitution at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-7-404; pimping of a child at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-7-405, inducement of child prostitution at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-7-405.5, patronizing a prostituted child at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-7-406, internet luring of a child at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-3-306, obscenity at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-7-102, posting a private image for harassment at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-7-107, posting a private image for pecuniary gain at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-7-108, posting, possession, or exchange of a private image by a juvenile at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-7-109, prostitution at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-7-201, soliciting for prostitution at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-7-202, pandering at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-7-203, keeping a place of prostitution at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-7-204, patronizing a prostitute at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-7-205, pimping at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-7-206, and prostitute making display at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-7-207, public indecency at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-7-301, indecent exposure at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-7-302, sexual conduct in a correctional institution at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-7-701, criminal invasion of privacy at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-7-801, harassment at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-9-111, hazing at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-9-124, cruelty to animals at Colo. Rev. Statutes § 18-9-202, and violations of the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act at Colo. Rev. Statute § 18-17-101, et seq. If found guilty, what would a typical punishment be in the US? In a system in which there are several classes of felonies and several classes of misdemeanors, usually sexual contact offenses are one to three offense classes below the sexual penetration offense with the same elements. For example, if unaggravated sexual penetration without consent is the second lowest grade of felony, unaggravated sexual contact without consent is typically the lowest grade of felony or the highest grade of misdemeanor. A highly aggravated sexual assault with penetration offense is often punishable by decades in prison. An unaggravated sexual contact without consent offense may be punishable by up to six to twelve months in jail or a long period of probation. The offenses are too varied by jurisdiction and crime details to summarize easily. Aggravated rape is a death penalty offense in U.S. military justice although the U.S. Supreme Court has held that the imposition of the death penalty (at least in cases where the victim is not a child) is unconstitutional. Some states declare in their statutes that the aggravated rape of a child is a death penalty offense although the constitutionality of those statutes has not been tested in court and no one has been executed for such an offense since the death penalty was reinstated in the 1970s in the U.S. Most sex offenses in the U.S. of all types, including both sexual contact offenses, sexual penetration offenses, and even offenses involving no contact at all, such being a peeping tom, also require to convicted defendant to register as a sex offender, either for a long period of time or for life, which is a quite severe and separate punishment in addition to the incarceration and/or fine and court costs and surcharges involved. In the case of child sex offenses and some repeat rape offenders, even after a term of incarceration is fully served, the state may seek to have the offender detained indefinitely civilly to protect the public until it is determined that the offender is no longer a threat, which rarely happens in practice.
Keep in mind that there are two kinds of legal consequences. One is criminal liability for violating a criminal statute, in a prosecution that must usually be brought by a government official. Merely causing emotional distress, in and of itself, is not generally a crime. For that matter, inducing someone to have sex with you through lies about anything other than the identity of the person having sex is usually not a crime. But inducing someone to disclose secrets or take actions that they otherwise would not have taken based upon a statement like this could be wire fraud, theft, extortion, or a variety of other crimes, depending upon what the person A was induced to do by the messages. Knowing what was sent, in isolation, doesn't tell you everything you need to know. While practicing medicine or other healing arts without a license is a crime or at least a civil offense, this wouldn't necessarily qualify, because person B is pretending to create someone treating person B, not pretending to practice medicine on person A. No one who wasn't in on the prank had medicine purportedly practiced upon them. But if the text were use to cause someone to act in reliance on a medical opinion (e.g., to get an employer to grant family leave to person A) then it might be illegal practice of medicine. The second is civil liability, in the form of a lawsuit for committing a civil wrong, called a &quot;tort&quot; or breaching a contract, or for other private individual initiated requests for remedies. The conduct in the question, conceivably gives rise to civil liability for intentional infliction of emotional distress, or civil fraud. But to know that it isn't enough to know what was said. One also has to know what happened on the other end of the communication. Did person A believe the text? Did person A suffer extreme emotional distress? Did person A part with money or information that couldn't have been obtained without a false statement of fact? Was person A's reputation harmed somehow?
If I were a DA (District Attorney) looking out "stamp out" statutory rape, I would make the rounds of the hospitals, identify women who gave birth, or were impregnated when underaged, and go from there. But few, if any DAs, do this. No, you wouldn't. First, you have neither the time nor the budget to do this. Second hospitals are not public property, you would need a warrant which the court won't give you because you don't have probable cause to believe a crime has or is being committed. As a DA, I would of course, follow up on any complaints lodged by the victim, or even by her/his parents. And maybe I would prosecute a case where people were "caught in the act, or there were nude pictures, etc. May even an especially egregious PDA (public display of affection). No, you wouldn't. You would follow up on complaints to the extent that you have the time, budget and manpower to do so and you would prosecute cases where you believe that you have a reasonable prospect of getting a conviction and where prosecution is, in your opinion, in the public interest. In the real world, that means where the police hand you a brief of evidence that is a lay-down misere and (for statutory rape) where there is a real power imbalance between the perpetrator and the victim - giving 2 willing 15 year old kids the label of 'sex offender' for life is probably not in the public interest. But suppose there were no complaints or smoking guns. Could someone investigate based on something like a teenager "holding hands" with someone much older? To make the question objective, what has historically caused DAs to prosecute people outside of the above parameters? With some exceptions, it is not the role of the DA to initiate or conduct investigations of criminal actions - that is the role of law enforcement officers, usually for this particular crime, police officers. Notwithstanding, the general rule in western, liberal democracies (which the United States, with a certain generosity of spirit, can still be considered) is that citizens are allowed to get on with their lives without day-to-day interference from the state. That is, law enforcement officers do not 'go fishing' for crimes, they investigate crimes that they have a probable cause to believe have actually happened, either because they themselves saw it happen or someone has reported it to them as having happened. The term for having a law enforcement officer following you around waiting for you to break the law is 'harassment' and may itself be illegal. A law enforcement officer can initiate an investigation based on anything but as no law enforcement agency has unlimited resources, they tend to follow only those investigations that might lead somewhere. For example, it has been known for parents to hold the hands of their children and even to publicly display affection towards them and parents are often "much older" then their children - this would not generally be grounds for initiating a statutory rape investigation.
What is going to happen, could I get fined, placed in jail etc? Your summons should have explained the specific violation you're being charged with, and you could look up the relevant sections of the law. Assault is defined in Chapter 12 of the New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice. There are several types, and again, your summons should explain which one you are being charged with. My guess is it will probably be "simple assault", paragraph (a) (right at the beginning). This is defined as a "disorderly persons offense". Upon conviction, a disorderly persons offense is punishable in New Jersey by a term of up to 90 days in jail and probation, (section 2C:43-2 (b) (2)), and a fine of up to $1000 (section 2C:43-3 (c)). This represents the maximum. I do not know what kind of sentence is actually likely. It could depend on common practice in the state, the prosecutor's opinion of the severity of the crime, and the judge's discretion. A lawyer would be best qualified to help you find out how to contest the charge, or to receive a lesser sentence if convicted.
I am not a lawyer either, though I have been through Pennsylvania a few times. The relevant law is 18 Pa.C.S. 5703, which prohibits recording without consent of all parties (Penna is a "two-party consent" state, like Florida and Washington). Unfortunately, violation of that law is a third degree felony, which has a maximum of 7 year prison. A specific instance of someone getting in trouble for recording their boss is Commonwealth v. Smith (Smith used a cell phone to record his boss, then argued that a cell phone isn't a "device"; the court determined that it is, and that was Feb 16 2016 so who knows the final outcome). An attorney in Pennsylvania might be able to tell you how often people actually serve time for violating the law. You should call one.
Does cybersex count as pornography? The law does not define pornography, so this is up to an interpretation of the courts. However, it appears to be common consent that a depersonalisation of the subjects is an essential aspect. For example, this verdict notes (translations and emphasis mine): Pornographie liegt nach der Rechtsprechung des Bundesgerichtshofs und der Oberlandesgerichte vor, wenn eine Darstellung unter Ausklammerung aller sonstigen menschlichen Bezüge sexuelle Vorgänge […] in den Vordergrund rückt […] (vgl. BGHSt 37, 55 (60); 32, 40 (44 ff); OLG Karlsruhe NJW 1974, 2015 (2016); OLG Düsseldorf NJW 1974, 1474 (1475); ebenso BVerwG NJW 2002, 2966 (2969)). […] Hinzukommen muss deshalb als weiteres Kriterium die sog. „Apersonalität des Geschlechtspartners“ (vgl. Erdemir, MMR 2003, 628 (631)). Die Darstellung muss mit anderen Worten durch eine Verabsolutierung sexuellen Lustgewinns unter gleichzeitiger Entmenschlichung der Sexualität geprägt sein. Pornographie ist danach anzunehmen, wenn der Mensch im Rahmen der Darstellung zum bloßen, auswechselbaren Objekt sexueller Begierde degradiert wird (vgl. S/S/Lenckner/Perron/Eisele, StGB 27. Aufl., § 184 Rdn. 4; MK-Hörnle a.a.O., § 184 Rdn. 15; jeweils m. w. Nachw.). […] According to the Federal Court’s and the state courts’ jurisdiction, a depiction is pornography if it emphasises sexual procedures disregarding all human aspects [references] […] Therefore, a necessary further criterion is the so-called “depersonalisation of the sexual partner” [reference]. With other words, the depiction must be dominated by a absolutisation of sexual pleasure and a simultaneous dehumanisation of sexuality. Therefore pornography has to be asserted if a depiction reduces human beings to mere replaceable objects of sexual desire [references]. (Also see the German Wikipedia for another summary and further references on the subject.) Now, cybersex usually, if not inherently, is a personal procedure, as opposed to a depersonalised one. Therefore I would not consider it to fall under the quoted definition of pornography. What other laws do regulate cybersex? The law governing the age of consent is § 176 StGB (translation), which includes: (4) Mit Freiheitsstrafe […] wird bestraft, wer […] auf ein Kind mittels Schriften (§ 11 Absatz 3) oder mittels Informations- oder Kommunikationstechnologie einwirkt, um […] das Kind zu sexuellen Handlungen zu bringen, die es […] vor dem Täter […] vornehmen […] soll, […] (4) Whosoever […] influences a child with written materials (section 11(3)) or with information or communication technology to induce him to engage in sexual activity […] in the presence of the offender […] shall be liable to imprisonment […]. *Translation adapted from this one to reflect recent changes to the law. Note that Kind (child) was established as Person unter vierzehn Jahren (a person under fourteen years of age) before. I would interpret this to capture cybersex. The only thing about this that may be debatable is whether the sexual activity during cybersex happens in the presence of the offender (i.e., the other person).
If Person A commits a criminal or civil offense on Day 1, which then becomes lawful on Day 2, can Person A be prosecuted or sued on Day 3 (Day 1, 2, and 3 are not necessarily subsequent days, but happen in this order)? As a general rule they can be prosecuted but the exactly language of the effective date language in the statute controls. It might say, for example, &quot;effective for prosecutions filed after Day 2&quot; in which case it couldn't be prosecuted. Also, if Person A is a minor when the offense occurred, but is now an adult, would the person be legally considered a minor or an adult if prosecuted or sued? Generally speaking, a minor. But this is a function of the language of the statute in question in the case of juvenile prosecutions. If a statute of limitations is shortened, then does the new one apply or the one that existed when the person did the crime/tort? Again, it depends upon the effective date language of the statute. Typically, it will apply to suits filed after the effective date.
People aged 19 and 18 are "teens" and legally permitted to perform in pornographic videos. That's how it's legal.