sexual abuse

sexual abuse, in criminal law, any act of sexual contact that a person suffers, submits to, participates in, or performs as a result of force or violence, threats, fear, or deception or without having legally consented to the act. Sexual contact in this context is usually understood to encompass any intentional touching, fondling, or penetration of intimate parts of the victim’s body by the perpetrator for the purpose of arousing or satisfying the perpetrator’s sexual desires or as a means of degrading, humiliating, or punishing the victim. Criminal sexual contact thus includes acts of sexual violence such as rape. Although legal consent to an act of sexual contact has been defined in various ways, it is generally considered to be absent in most if not all of the following circumstances: (1) the victim actively resists the act, (2) the victim otherwise communicates to the perpetrator that he or she does not agree to the act, (3) the victim does not freely communicate or signal to the perpetrator his or her agreement to the act, (4) the victim is a minor or a child, (5) the victim lacks understanding of the significance or consequences of the act, or (6) the victim is mentally or physically incapacitated in relevant ways—e.g., by being intoxicated or unconscious.

As a category of crime, sexual abuse overlaps with sexual assault, as both involve sexual contact without the victim’s consent. The former, however, usually involves a series of acts of criminal sexual contact committed by a single perpetrator (or group of perpetrators) over a prolonged period, whereas the latter usually consists of a particular act committed by a perpetrator (or group of perpetrators) against a single person. Sexual abuse also frequently consists of crimes against minors or children by a perpetrator who is acquainted with the victims or is viewed by them as a figure of authority—as are older family members or relatives, teachers, coaches, doctors, employers, and others (see child abuse).

In the United States, almost all persons formally charged with sexual abuse are prosecuted under state laws, which vary in their definitions of sexual abuse and assault and in the penalties they assign to those crimes. Federal law also prohibits acts of sexual abuse, though the statutes apply only to acts committed within the maritime or territorial jurisdictions of the United States, including federal prisons (18 U.S. Code §2242).