By Agenique Smiley
BridgeTower Media Newswires
DETROIT - The prevalence of sexual assault in the United States is staggering. According to a study conducted by the National Center for Victims of Crime, one in four females and one in six males will be sexually assaulted during their lifetime.
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, sexual assault is the violent crime least often reported to law enforcement. Given that the crime is greatly underreported, the prevalence of sexual assault is probably also grossly underestimated.
However, a prosecutor's case in a matter involving an accusation of sexual assault relies heavily, if not solely, on the victim's testimony. In most instances, the accusation of criminal sexual conduct carries with it an automatic presumption of guilt - a presumption that follows the accused even if they are acquitted.
Criminal sexual conduct
and degrees of seriousness
Criminal Sexual Conduct (CSC) is broken down into four basic degrees of seriousness under Michigan law.
CSC-I entails a person engaging in sexual penetration with another person in conjunction with a number of other factors, including but not limited to, the victim being under 13 years old, penetration occurring under circumstances involving the commission of any other felony or the perpetrator is armed with a weapon or any article used or fashioned in a manner to lead the victim to reasonably believe it to be a weapon.
CSC-I is a felony and is punishable by up to life in prison. It also requires lifetime registration as a sex offender.
CSC-II occurs when a person engages in sexual contact with another person and if other circumstances, including but not limited to, exist: the victim is under age 13 or the victim is at least age 13 but less than age 16 and, including but not limited to, the actor is a member of the same household as the victim, the actor is related by blood or affinity to the fourth degree to the victim or the sexual contact occurs under circumstances involving the commission of any other felony.
CSC-II carries with it a prison sentence of not more than 15 years and possible lifetime electronic monitoring.
CSC-III involves the perpetrator engaging in sexual penetration with the victim and if the other person is 13 but under 16 years old, force or coercion is used to accomplish the sexual penetration or the actor knows or has reason to know the victim is incapable, mentally incapacitated or physically helpless (this list is not exhaustive).
CSC-III is a felony punishable by not more than 15 years in prison.
CSC-IV occurs when a perpetrator has sexual contact with another person and the other person is at least 13 but less than 16 years old and the actor is more than five years older than the other person, force or coercion is used to accomplish the sexual act or the actor knows or has reason to know the victim is mentally incapable, mentally incapacitated or physically helpless (this list does not recite the entire statute).
CSC IV is a misdemeanor punishable by not more than two years in prison or a fine of not more than $500 or both.
'People v. DeLeon'
Sex crimes are so shocking to the conscience because they are often committed by a person that has some sort of relationship or familiarity with the victim and, the younger the victim, the more shocking the offense.
In People v. DeLeon, the victim, the defendant's stepdaughter, testified that from the time she was 6 or 7 years old until she was 12, she was raped by the defendant.
Prior to Joe Louis DeLeon's sexual assault of his stepdaughter in Michigan, he was convicted in Texas for "aggravated assault with a deadly weapon" and "indecency with a child, sexual contact in the third degree," his victim at that time being his then-stepson.
After a jury trial in the Michigan case, DeLeon was convicted of first-degree criminal sexual conduct (CSC-I), MCL 750.520b(1)(a) and (2)(b) (victim under 13, defendant at least 17), and second-degree criminal sexual conduct (CSC-II), MCL 750.520c(1)(a) and (2)(b) (victim under 13, defendant at least 17).
At sentencing, the trial court found the defendant to be a third habitual offender pursuant to MCL 769.11 and sentenced him to a 35- to 70-year term of imprisonment for the CSC-I conviction, consecutive to a 20- to 30-year term of imprisonment for the CSC-II conviction.
During sentencing, the trial court characterized DeLeon's repeated conduct in sexually abusing young children as "almost unbelievable and inconceivable" and found him to be a "menace to society."
The Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed in a Nov. 15 published opinion.
Detroit Rape Kit Project
In 2009, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym L. Worthy's office discovered 11,304 sexual assault kits in a Detroit Police Department property storage facility. The kits, which were collected between 1984 and 2009, were never submitted for DNA testing. A sexual assault kit is the DNA taken from a victim's body after a sexual assault.
Each of the untested kits represents a man, woman or child who suffered a violent assault and underwent a lengthy and physically invasive evidentiary collection procedure in an effort to apprehend his or her assailant. If tested, a sexual assault kit can identify an unknown assailant, affirm a victim's version of events, discredit a suspect's story and connect evidence to serial rapists. In contrast, an untested kit can often mean justice denied for victims.
Faced with thousands of untested sexual assault kits, Worthy applied for, and received, a grant from the National Institute of Justice, the research arm of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Under the grant, a group of multi-disciplinary stakeholders, along with sexual assault researchers from Michigan State University, meet regularly to determine how thousands of sexual assault kits came to be warehoused, how to move forward and how to ensure that the problem does not happen again.
Worthy has committed to ensuring that every kit is tested, every case is investigated and that a victim-centered approach to the investigation of sexual assault is implemented at a state and national level.
Published: Tue, Jan 24, 2017
