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Rape: Sexual Injustices In The United States

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Rape is defined as the commission of unlawful sexual intercourse or unlawful sexual intrusion. Rape laws in the United States have been revised multiple times over the years, and they vary from state to state. Most states choose to label the crime of rape as a sexual assault. Sexual assault is divided into three degrees: first degree, second degree, and third degree. A person is guilty of rape in the first degree if the person engages in vaginal intercourse: with another at least four years younger than the offender; or with another person by force and against the will of the other person. A person is guilty of rape in the second degree if the person engages in vaginal intercourse with another person: by force and against the will of the other …show more content…

This number would decrease greatly if most statutory rape cases weren't considered a type of sexual crime in the first place. Twenty-three percent of sexual assaults are committed by a person who has an intimate relationship with the victim. There are cases of spousal rape, but they usually only occur between married couples. In most intimate relationships the parties involved both consent to sexual activity. So, if two consenting parties engage in sexual intercourse, why should it be considered a crime. An example is a college student in a relationship with a high school girl, was charged in August 2011 with three counts of unlawful sex with a minor and three counts of oral copulation on a person under age 18. He said the case put him in jail for 12 days, cost him a job at FedEx and forced him to take a semester off school. Around Antioch, he said, he was treated as if he were already a convicted sex offender. "That's not who I am, that's not who I was raised to be," he said. The girl told the officer she thought the sex was legal and that it was only a crime if her partner was at least five years older. She didn't want him to be prosecuted, Public Defender Robin Lipetzky said. Charging this young man for an action that was consensual is not

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