Sexual assault, rape, or criminal sexual conduct (CSC) charges are serious allegations that can destroy a person’s life. Even if you are 100% innocent, the simple accusation carries a stigma that can follow a person for the rest of their life.
The consequences for a conviction can be severe as well, and could include mandatory minimum prison sentences, lifetime registration on the sex offender registry, and even a requirement that you wear an ankle monitor for the rest of your life.
In this article you will learn:
- When assault and battery is considered a “lewd act,”
- The difference between rape and criminal sexual conduct,
- Attempted CSC charges, and
- CSC with a minor charges.
What’s the Difference Between Sexual Assalt, Rape & CSC in South Carolina?
Although people often use the terms “sexual assault” and “rape” interchangeably, there are specific definitions for these and other terms in SC law. Below, we will go over the basics of rape and criminal sexual conduct (CSC) charges in SC.
Sexual Assault, Lewd Act, and Assault and Battery
One type of sexual assault – lewd act – is now contained in SC’s assault and battery laws instead of SC’s criminal sexual conduct laws.
A “lewd act” is when a person touches another person’s private parts (without penetration) and can result in as much as ten years in prison if the person is convicted. SC Code § 16-3-600 defines a lewd act as:
- Second-Degree Assault and Battery – when someone touches another person’s private parts without consent, whether or not the person was injured, and whether or not there was a lewd intent. 2nd-degree assault and battery is a misdemeanor offense that carries up to three years in prison if convicted.
- First-Degree Assault and Battery – when someone touches another person’s private parts without consent, there is injury, and there is a lewd intent. 1st-degree assault and battery is a felony offense that carries up to ten years in prison if convicted.
Note that this code section applies when the alleged victim is an adult – if the alleged victim is younger than 16, “lewd act” may be charged as CSC with a minor 3rd degree, which carries a more severe potential prison sentence.
Rape or Criminal Sexual Conduct?
What’s the difference between rape charges and criminal sexual conduct charges?
None – criminal sexual conduct is SC’s term for rape.
Criminal sexual conduct (CSC) charges in SC may include rape allegations where the alleged victim is an adult (CSC), rape allegations where the alleged victim is a minor (CSC with a minor or statutory rape), or attempted criminal sexual conduct.
CSC 1st Degree
SC Code § 16-3-652 defines criminal sexual conduct (rape) in the first degree as one of three scenarios:
- Aggravated physical force (physical force or physical violence of a high and aggravated nature… [or] threat of the use of a deadly weapon) was used to accomplish a sexual battery (sexual intercourse or penetration),
- The alleged sexual battery also involved “forcible confinement, kidnapping, trafficking in persons, robbery, extortion, burglary, housebreaking, or any other similar offense or act,” or
- The defendant drugged the alleged victim, causing them “to become mentally incapacitated or physically helpless by administering, distributing, dispensing, delivering, or causing to be administered, distributed, dispensed, or delivered a controlled substance, a controlled substance analogue, or any intoxicating substance.”
First-degree CSC is a felony that carries up to 30 years in prison if convicted.
CSC 2nd Degree
SC Code § 16-3-653 defines criminal sexual conduct in the second degree as situations where the defendant used aggravated coercion (threats to use force or violence) to accomplish a sexual battery.
Second-degree CSC is a felony that carries up to twenty years in prison if convicted.
CSC 3rd Degree
SC Code § 16-3-654 defines criminal sexual conduct in the third degree as situations where the defendant engaged in sexual battery with the alleged victim and:
- Used force or coercion to accomplish the sexual battery, or
- Knew or should have known that the alleged victim was “mentally defective, mentally incapacitated, or physically helpless.”
Third-degree CSC is a felony that carries up to ten years in prison if convicted.
Attempted Criminal Sexual Conduct
What if someone attempts to commit rape but fails?
Under SC Code § 16-3-656, an assault with intent to commit criminal sexual conduct (CSC) is punished as if the CSC had happened. For example, an attempted rape using aggravated physical force would be punished as if a CSC 1st degree had been committed and carries up to 30 years in prison.
CSC with a Minor Charges in SC
If the alleged victim is under the age of 16, the defendant is charged with criminal sexual conduct with a minor first, second, or third-degree under SC Code § 16-3-655.
CSC with a Minor 1st Degree
First-degree CSC with a minor involves allegations of sexual battery with a minor who is:
- Less than 11 years old, or
- Less than 16 years old if there is any prior conviction that requires sex offender registry.
CSC with a minor is a felony offense, and, if the alleged victim is less than 11 years old, a conviction requires a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years and up to life in prison.
If the alleged victim is between the ages of 11 and 16 and there is a prior conviction that requires sex offender registry, a conviction requires a mandatory sentence of 10 years and up to 30 years in prison.
If the defendant has a prior conviction for CSC with a minor 1st degree, the penalty is death (although this provision is likely unconstitutional, that hasn’t yet been decided by the courts) or life in prison.
CSC with a Minor 2nd Degree
Second-degree CSC with a minor involves allegations of sexual battery with a minor who is:
- 11 years old to 14 years old, or
- 14 years old to 16 years old and “the actor is in a position of familial, custodial, or official authority to coerce the victim to submit or is older than the victim.”
2nd-degree CSC with a minor is a felony that carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
CSC with a Minor 3rd Degree
Third-degree CSC with a minor is a “lewd act” on a minor where the defendant is older than 14 and the alleged victim is younger than 16.
Lewd act on a minor is where a person older than 14 “wilfully and lewdly commits or attempts to commit a lewd or lascivious act upon or with the body, or its parts, of a child under sixteen years of age, with the intent of arousing, appealing to, or gratifying the lust, passions, or sexual desires of the actor or the child.”
A conviction for 3rd-degree CSC with a minor is a felony that carries up to 15 years in prison.
Statutory Rape, Mistake of Age, and the “Romeo Defense”
CSC with a minor offenses do not require the use of force. They don’t even require a lack of consent – a minor under the age of 16 cannot legally consent to sexual intercourse, and, if the alleged victim consents, this is called “statutory rape.”
Mistake of age is never a defense to CSC with a minor charge in SC (see State v. Hampton), but SC does have a “Romeo defense,” “Romeo and Juliet law,” or “close in age exemption.”
CSC with a minor second degree does not apply to a defendant who is “eighteen years of age or less when he engages in consensual sexual conduct with another person who is at least fourteen years of age.”
Similarly, CSC with a minor third degree does not apply to a defendant who is “eighteen years of age or less when the person engages in consensual lewd or lascivious conduct with another person who is at least fourteen years of age.”
Penalties for Criminal Sexual Conduct/ Rape Charges in SC
A summary of the potential penalties for CSC/Rape charges is in the table below:
| Type | Classification | Penalty |
|---|---|---|
| Criminal sexual conduct 1st degree | Felony | Up to 30 years in prison |
| Criminal sexual conduct 2nd degree | Felony | Up to 20 years in prison |
| Criminal sexual conduct 3rd degree | Felony | Up to 10 years in prison |
| CSC with a minor 1st degree under 11 years of age | Felony | 25 years to life in prison (or death) |
| CSC with a minor 1st degree 11 – 16 years of age | Felony | 10 years to 30 years in prison |
| CSC with a minor 1st degree under 11 years of age with a prior conviction | Felony | Death or life imprisonment |
| Assault and battery 1st degree | Felony | Up to ten years in prison |
| Assault and battery 2nd degree | Misdemeanor | Up to three years in prison |
Questions About Sexual Assault, Rape, or CSC Charges in SC?
If you have been charged with CSC or rape in SC, or if you believe you are under investigation for CSC charges, talk to an experienced sex crimes defense lawyer in Charleston, SC immediately – before you talk to police or investigators.
Call Kulp & Elliot now at 843-853-3310 or email us through our website to set up a free consultation and find out how we can help.