Georgia Rape Defense Attorney - Frequently Asked Questions
How is sexual assault different from sexual battery? Why was I charged with “sexual assault” when the contact was consensual?
In the public discourse, the term “sexual assault” is commonly used to describe forceful sexual attacks perpetrated upon non-consenting victims. However, legal terms don't always match up with the common understanding of phrases.
In the state of Georgia, non-consensual sex is prosecuted as rape or aggravated sodomy. Non-consensual touching is defined as sexual battery. Thus, what is commonly knows as sexual assault is called rape or sexual battery in a court of law.
Sexual Assault by Persons with Supervisory or Disciplinary Authority
Georgia does use the term “sexual assault” for one crime: “Sexual Assault by Persons with Supervisory or Disciplinary Authority.” This statute prohibits sexual contact between figures of authority (i.e. – teachers, school administrators, law enforcement agents, parole officers, psychotherapists, hospital employees, prison guards, etc.) and those whom they have control over (i.e. – students, patients, prisoners, etc.).
According to the statute (O.C.G.A. 15-5-5.1(b)), this crime occurs when “a person who has supervisory or disciplinary authority over another individual engages in sexual contact with them.”
The term “sexual contact” is defined as “any contact between the actor and a person not married to the actor involving the intimate parts of either person for the sexual gratification of the actor.” “Intimate parts” is defined as “the genital area, groin, inner thighs, buttocks, or breasts of a person.”
The law lays out specific instances in which a person is considered to have supervisory or disciplinary authority over another, making sexual contact illegal. Sex is prohibited between:
A teacher, principal, assistant principal or other administrator of any school and a student enrolled at the same school;
An employee or agent of any probation or parole office and a probationer or parolee under the supervision of the same probation or parole office;
An employee or agent of a law enforcement agency and a person being detained by or in the custody of any law enforcement agency;
An employee or agent of a hospital and a person who is a patient or is being detained in the same hospital; or
An employee or agent of a correctional facility, juvenile detention facility, facility providing services to a person with a disability, or a facility providing child welfare and youth services and an individual in the custody of such facility.
In addition, it is illegal for “an actual or purported practitioner of psychotherapy” to engage in sexual contact with someone under their treatment. They also may not use “the treatment or counseling relationship to facilitate sexual contact between the actor and such individual.” The term “psychotherapy” is defined as “professional treatment or counseling of a mental or emotional illness, symptom, or condition.”
In these cases, consent is not a defense. The reasoning behind banning sex between people in certain positions of authority and their subordinates is that those with power may coerce those under their control into unwanted sexual contact. They may use their physical, mental, legal, or medical power over a person to demand sex. Thus, vulnerable classes of people, such as students, prisoners and patients, are not able to give consent. The fact that sexual contact occurred is enough to gain a conviction. The main element that must be proven is that the accused had sexual contact with a person they knew or should have known was under their care or control (as defined above).
A conviction for sexual assault by persons with supervisory or disciplinary authority carries a prison sentence of one to 25 years in prison or by a fine of up to $100,000. However, if the victim was under 16 years of age, the punishment increases to 25 to 50 years in prison. (Romeo and Juliet laws apply if the victim is older than 14 and the perpetrator is 18 or younger and no more than four years older; this would make the crime a misdemeanor).
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