Fairfax Sex Crimes Charges
In Fairfax and throughout the rest of Virginia, the term sex crime refers to the various sexual offenses that someone may be charged with. Below, a Fairfax sex crimes lawyer discusses these different charges and the penalties that accompany each one. To learn more about sex crime charges in Virginia or to discuss your case, call and schedule a consultation with an attorney today.
What The Term Sex Crime Means
Sex crimes in Fairfax can mean a lot of different things. They can include crimes such as:
- Rape
- Aggravated sexual battery
- Sexual battery
- Forceful sodomy
- Object sexual penetration
- And sex crimes involving minors are often charged as well
Basically, any criminal activity that has to do with sex or sex parts can be considered a sex crime.
Sex crimes are very serious, mainly because they involve very sensitive and often very emotional issues. In rape cases, for example, there’s a victim and the victim is usually extraordinarily sympathetic and prosecutors and police try to protect those victims vigorously.
As a result, they go after the alleged perpetrators vigorously. These are very serious crimes and the highest levels of sex crimes can result in life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. So, they’re very serious and need to be taken very seriously by those who are alleged to have committed them.
Other Types of Sex Crimes
There are lots of different sex crimes that are out there, everything from rape, forcible sodomy, sexual object penetration, aggravated sexual battery; there are crimes involving minors such as child pornography charges, sex assault against minors that can certainly be lumped into these categories. Even sexual harassment if it involves use of computers or telephones can be charged as sex crime as well.
Sexting
Sexting can be a sex crime, but it has to fall under certain parameters. Any adult-to-juvenile sexting can be considered a sex crime. Similarly, and this is what’s gotten people into some trouble very recently in Virginia, juveniles sending naked pictures of themselves to other juveniles or to adults can result in the recipients of those images being charged with a sex crime, because that can be considered distribution of child pornography.
It is considered child pornography if the person is confirmed to be underage who is depicted in the image. So, sexting can mean a lot of different things; if it’s between two consenting adults, and by consenting I mean they both are aware of the nature of their relationship and consent to receiving that kind of text, and in fact, often reciprocate, then that itself is not a crime. But if it involves a minor or it involves images of a minor, then it absolutely can be a sex crime.
Penalties You Can Face For a Sex Crime
Sex crimes vary so widely, and accordingly there is a wide variance of possible penalties. A person can be convicted of a sex crime and face life in prison, or they can face jail terms of up to one year. Everything in between is on the table. It really depends upon the nature of the crime that’s charged and for which the person is convicted.
