Sex Crimes

Every state has laws against prohibiting the various types of sex crimes and each state has its own statute of limitations in which victims of sex crimes may file a lawsuit against the alleged offender.

The following is a common list of sex crimes:

• Indecent Exposure: It is illegal for a person to expose their genitals in public.
• Prostitution: Prostitution is a description of the crime of offering or engaging in sexual acts for payment and links to the relevant penal code section.
• Rape: Situations that may constitute the crime of rape include date rape and statutory rape.
• Sexual Assault: Sexual assault describes the catch-all crime that encompasses unwanted sexual touching of many kinds.
• Solicitation: It’s illegal to entice someone else to commit a crime (such as prostitution).
• Statutory Rape: People below the age of consent cannot legally consent to having sex, even if there was no force or the perpetrator believed the victim was old enough.
• Halloween Sex Offender: Halloween sex offender laws are intended to prevent convicted sex offenders from participating in Halloween festivities such as prohibiting convicted sex offenders from dressing up in costumes, decorating their homes, passing out candy or driving after dark.
• Pimping and Pandering: “Pimping” and “pandering” are two distinct crimes. The crime of pimping in many states is defined as living or deriving support from the earnings of someone’s prostitution, knowing the person is a prostitute. Pimping also includes soliciting for the prostitute or receiving compensation for soliciting the prostitute. Pandering typically means the act of procuring prostitutes by means of influence, encouragement, enticement, persuasion, fraud, threat, arrangement, or other request, also known as being “the middleman.”

People convicted of sex crimes, regardless of severity, are considered sex offenders by their respective state and face having their names added to state and federal sex offender registries.

Changes may occur in this area of law. The information provided is brought to you as a public service, and is intended to help you better understand the law in general. It is not intended to be legal advice regarding your particular problem or substitute for the advice of a lawyer.