Following the politicized uproar over the so-called lenient sentence that Brock Turner received for his sexual encounter with a drunk woman at a Stanford party, the California legislature has passed yet another “rape” law by 66-0 which is awaiting Governor Jerry Brown’s signature.
Under the new law, a defendant would face a minimum of 3-years in prison if he has sex, oral, digital, or otherwise with a woman who is “incapable of giving consent due to intoxication”.
This new law is a nightmare.
- It places the burden on the Man to determine whether an intoxicated woman is capable of giving consent. In reality, there very few scenarios between two individuals who are drinking alcohol (or consuming other substances) where this conversation or thought process actually occurs.
- The effect of the law is to allow a woman to get voluntarily drunk, have sex (or engage in other sexual acts) and then later claim that her state of intoxication prevented her from giving consent.
- Under the language of the law, it covers “penetration with a foreign object” which can include fingers. Given the obvious physical differences between a man and woman, this law is biased against Men who are the natural “penetrators” during a sexual act.
- If convicted under the new law, you will face a minimum prison term of 3 years if it is determined that the intoxicated woman was not capable of providing consent.
Text of the Bill can be found here: http://solano.networkofcare.org/ps/legislate/state-bill-text.aspx?id=468103&bill=AB%202888&sessionid=2015000
Under current sentencing guidelines in California, judges are given latitude to suspend the imposition of prison sentences for certain types of sexual assault crimes and sentence defendants to probation or jail time, or both.
This bill would prohibit a court from granting probation or suspending the execution or imposition of a sentence if a person is convicted of rape, sodomy, penetration with a foreign object, or oral copulation if the victim was either unconscious or incapable of giving consent due to intoxication.
If you think this new Bill is unjust, I encourage you to write to governor Jerry Brown to stop this insanity and restore common sense to our criminal justice system:
https://govnews.gov.ca.gov/gov39mail/mail.php