Sexual Assault and Related Offenses

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Status Details

At its meeting on February 25, 2021, the Council approved Section 213.0(2)(g), the definition of “registrable offense,” from Council Draft No. 11. The Council also reviewed a draft of Sections 213.11-213.11J (Sentencing and Collateral Consequences of Conviction), which the Reporters had revised based on discussion at the January Council meeting. The revisions are available here. Because these Sections were approved in January, they did not require any additional approval. The Reporters will further revise the Sections based on the discussion at the February meeting.

The Council also considered the mens rea for various offenses in Article 213 and approved changing the mens rea from knowledge to recklessness in subsection (1)(a) of Section 213.7 (Offensive Sexual Conduct) and subsections (1)(a), (2)(a), and (3)(a) of Section 213.8 (Sexual Offenses Involving Minors). A document showing the changes will be posted here.

At its meeting on January 21 and 22, 2021, the Council approved Section 213.8, Sexual Offenses Involving Minors, and Sections 213.11-213.11J, Sentencing and Collateral Consequences of Conviction, of Council Draft No. 11.

The Council will review the Reporters’ revisions to Sections 213.11-213.11J at a Council meeting later this winter. The Council will also discuss the treatment of mens rea in Article 213 as suggested by a group of Advisers and MCG participants.

This project was on the 2020 Annual Meeting agenda. Although the 2020 Annual Meeting was cancelled, project drafts were produced and posted online. Each was a Tentative Draft, but no motions were made and no voting occurred. The drafts may be revised or supplemented before submission at the next Annual Meeting.

At its meeting in Philadelphia on January 16 and 17, 2020, the Council approved Section 213.8 on Sexual Offenses Involving Minors in Council Draft No. 10, along with the material in Part II on Grading of Sections Previously Approved, as summarized in the first two columns of the chart attached as Appendix A to the Reporters’ Memorandum, subject to the Reporters grading Section 213.2 as a felony of the third degree, consistent with the first option listed in the second footnote on page 13 of the draft.

The material on Grading: General Considerations in Part I of the draft will be a Reporters’ Introduction in the next draft. There was insufficient time to discuss Section 213.11 on Procedural and Evidentiary Principles Applicable to Article 213 or Sections 213.12 and 213.12A-213.12J on Collateral Consequences of Conviction.

At its meeting in New York City on October 17 and 18, 2019, the Council approved Sections 213.7 (Offensive Sexual Contact), 213.9 (Sex Trafficking), and 213.10 (Permission to Use Force), subject to the Reporters, in collaboration with an ad hoc group of Council members, revising Section 213.9 to address comments from the Advisers and Members Consultative Group regarding tangential actors.

Sections 213.8, 213.11, and 213.12 were included in Council Draft No. 9 only for discussion. These Sections were also discussed at the project meeting on October 24, 2019.

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At the 2017 Annual Meeting, the definitions of “Sexual Penetration” and “Oral Sex” were discussed and approved as presented in the draft after a motion on each definition was presented from the floor and did not pass. There was discussion on 213.1, but there was not enough time for all motions on this section to be considered. The following are details of the actions taken at the 2017 Annual Meeting:

• A motion to add “purposeful” to Section 213.0(1) failed.
• A motion to replace “touching” in Section 213.0(2) failed.
• A motion to move the mens rea from the end to the beginning of Section 213.1(1) was accepted by the Reporters as a friendly amendment.
• A written motion regarding Section 213.1 was made into two motions from the floor: (i) a motion to remove “recklessly” from Section 213.1(1) passed; and (ii) a motion to add the phrase “without the consent of the other person” to Section 213.1(1) was not reached due to lack of time.
• As previously announced, the meeting had to stop at 5:15 p.m. for Annual Dinner set-up, before discussion of the second motion regarding Section 213.1, or discussion of Section 213.1 generally, was complete.
• A Boskey motion to approve Sections 213.0(1) and 213.0(2) passed. 
• Section 213.1 will be reviewed at future meetings.  

Note: The summary above, which was initially posted immediately following the Annual Meeting, was corrected after staff received and reviewed the transcript of the proceedings. 

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All draft approvals are subject to the discussion at the meeting and usual editorial prerogative.

For an in-depth description of this project, please visit the Model Penal Code: Sexual Assault page of the The ALI Adviser.

Project Video

Project Reporter Stephen Schulhofer and Associate Reporter Erin Murphy discuss the project in this short video: