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Sexual Assault Response and Prevention Program Advocate Office

Sexual Assualt

What Is Sexual Assault

Sexual assault is an umbrella term for all violence that contains an element of sexual gratification. Any type of sexual assault is a fundamental violation of a person's right to control his or her own body.

University Of Maryland Policies

Sexual Assault I
Any act of rape, forcible sexual penetration, however slight, of another person's anal or genital opening with any object by a stranger or acquaintance.
Sexual Assault II
Any act, by a stranger or acquaintance, of touching an unwilling person's intimate parts (defined as genitalia, groin, breast, or buttocks or clothing covering them) or of forcing an unwilling person to touch another's intimate parts.

Maryland Laws

Definitions
Vaginal intercourse
Penetration, however slight, of a vagina by a penis, regardless of whether semen is emitted.
Sexual act
An act, for the purpose of sexual arousal or gratification, in which an object penetrates, however slightly, another's genital opening or anus, regardless of whether semen is emitted
Oral sex performed on either a male or a female and anal intercourse
Sexual contact
An act, for the purpose of sexual arousal or gratification, in which part of a person's body (except the penis, mouth, or tongue) touches or penetrates another person's genital opening or anus
Digital penetration of a person's vagina or anus
Mentally incapacitated individual
Person who, because of a drug, narcotic, or intoxicating substance, is rendered substantially incapable of evaluating their conduct or resisting vaginal intercourse, a sexual act, or a sexual contact
Someone who has been given a drug without their knowledge
Physically helpless individual
Person who is unconscious or is physically unable to resist or communicate an unwillingness to submit to vaginal intercourse, a sexual act, or a sexual contact
Someone who is in a coma or deep sleep
Law
1st degree rape
Vaginal intercourse, by force or threat of force, without the consent of the woman and that includes: use or display of a weapon; suffocation, strangulation, disfigurement, or serious physical injury to the victim or another; threat that the victim or another will be imminently subject to death, suffocation, strangulation, disfigurement, serious physical injury, or kidnapping; more than one perpetrator or accomplice; or burglary
Life without parole
2nd degree rape
Vaginal intercourse, by force or threat of force, without the consent of the woman; OR Vaginal intercourse with a person who is mentally defective, mentally incapacitated, or physically helpless
20 years imprisonment
1st degree sexual offense
Sexual act, by force or threat of force, without the consent of another and that includes: use or display of a weapon; suffocation, strangulation, disfigurement, or serious physical injury to the victim or another; threat that the victim or another will be imminently subject to death, suffocation, strangulation, disfigurement, serious physical injury, or kidnapping; more than one perpetrator or accomplice; or burglary
Life without parole
2nd degree sexual offense
Sexual act, by force or threat of force, without the consent of another; OR Sexual act with a person who is mentally defective, mentally incapacitated, or physically helpless
20 years imprisonment
3rd degree sexual offense
Sexual contact with another without consent and that includes: use or display of a weapon; suffocation, strangulation, disfigurement, or serious physical injury to the victim or another; threat that the victim or another will be imminently subject to death, suffocation, strangulation, disfigurement, serious physical injury, or kidnapping; or more than one perpetrator or accomplice. Sexual contact with a person who is mentally defective, mentally incapacitated, or physically helpless
10 years imprisonment
4th degree sexual offense
Sexual contact with another without consent
1-year imprisonment and/or a $1,000 fine