Definitions

(a)As used in this Chapter:

(1)“Actor” means a person accused of criminal sexual conduct;

(2)“Consent” means words or overt actions by a person indicating a freely given present agreement to perform a particular sexual act with the actor. Consent does not mean the existence of a prior or current social relationship between the actor and the victim or that the victim failed to resist a particular sexual act.

(A)A person who is mentally incapacitated or physically helpless as defined by this Chapter cannot consent to a sexual act.

(B)Corroboration of the victim’s testimony is not required to show lack of consent.

(3)“Force” or “Coercion” includes, but is not limited to, any of the following circumstances:

(A)when the actor overcomes the victim through the actual application of physical force or physical violence;

(B)when the actor coerces the victim to submit by threatening to use force or violence on the victim and the victim believes that the actor has the present ability to execute these threats;

(C)when the actor coerces the victim to submit by threatening to retaliate in the future against the victim or any other person and the victim believes that the actor has the ability to execute this threat. As used in this Subsection, to retaliate includes threats of physical punishment, kidnapping, or extortion; CH. 25 SEXUAL OFFENSES

(D)when the actor engages in the medical treatment or examination of the victim in a manner or for purposes which are medically recognized as unethical or unacceptable; or

(E)when the actor, through concealment or by the element of surprise, is able to overcome the victim.

(4)“Intimate Parts” includes the primary genital area, groin, inner thigh, buttock, or breast of a human being;

(5)“Mentally Impaired” means that a person suffers from a mental disease or defect which renders that person temporarily or permanently incapable of appraising the nature of his or her conduct;

(6)“Mentally Incapacitated” means

(A)that a person is rendered temporarily incapable of appraising or controlling his or her conduct due to the influence of a narcotic, anesthetic, or other substance administered to that person without his or her consent, or due to any other act committed upon that person without his or her consent; or

(B)that a person is voluntarily under the influence of any substance or substances to a degree that renders them incapable of consenting or incapable of appreciating, understanding, or controlling the person’s conduct.

(7)“Physically Helpless” means that a person is

(A)unconscious,

(B)asleep,

(C)unable to withhold consent or to withdraw consent because of a physical condition, or

(D)for any other reason, is physically unable to communicate unwillingness to an act;

(8)“Personal Injury” means bodily injury, disfigurement, mental anguish, chronic pain, pregnancy, disease, or loss or impairment of a sexual or reproductive organ;

(9)“Sexual Contact” includes the intentional touching of the victim’s or actor’s intimate parts or the intentional touching of the clothing covering the immediate area of the victim’s or actor’s intimate parts, if that intentional touching can reasonably be construed as being for the purpose of sexual arousal or gratification;

(10)“Sexual Penetration” means sexual intercourse, cunnilingus, fellatio, anal intercourse, or any other intrusion, however slight, of any part of a person’s body or of any object into the genital or anal openings of another person’s body, but emission of semen is not required; and

(11)“Victim” means the person alleging to have been subjected to criminal sexual conduct.

(12)“Relationship by blood” means a relationship between persons arising by descent from a common ancestor or a relationship by birth rather than by marriage. The degree of consanguinity is determined by counting upward from one of the persons in question to the nearest common ancestor, and then down to the other person, calling it one degree for each generation in the ascending as well as the descending line.

(13)“Affinity” is the relation existing in consequence of marriage between each of the married persons and the blood relatives of the other. The method of computing degrees of affinity is the same method as computing degrees of consanguinity. CH. 25 SEXUAL OFFENSES

(14)“Dating relationship” means a relationship between individuals who have or have had a continuing relationship of a romantic or intimate nature. The existence of such a relationship shall be determined based on consideration of:

(A)the length of the relationship;

(B)the nature of the relationship; and

(C)the frequency and type of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship. A casual acquaintanceship or ordinary fraternization in a business or social context does not constitute a “dating relationship.”

(15)“Adoption” refers to the act where an adult formally becomes the guardian of a child and incurs the rights and obligations of a parent.

(b)Whenever in this Chapter the criminality of conduct depends on a child’s being below the age of fourteen (14), it is no defense that the defendant reasonably believed the child to be fourteen

(14)or older. Whenever in this Chapter the criminality of conduct depends on a child’s being below a specified age older than fourteen (14), it is an affirmative defense that the defendant reasonably believed the child to be of that age or above.