(Don’t need answer fast)
Missouri woman charged with statutory sodomy for sex act with teenage boy.
In this case, does that mean that he penetrated her anally? Or that she penetrated him (presumably with a strap-on or something)? Or does the law not specify?
Could just be oral sex.
He he penetrated her anally.
Or, what you said.
Oral sex is usually included in “Sodomy”. My guess is she gave him a BJ.
From your link
“Giesler was accused of a having three sexual encounters with a 16-year-old boy, including performing a sex act on him and engaging in sexual intercourse twice in her home in Ste. Genevieve County, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.”
Sodomy, in this context, usually refers to oral sex.
It depends on the state. Each state has specific legal definitions in their code. It could mean oral sex. Or in the case of the age difference being the factor and not consent it could be acts done to her.
According to Missouri law sodomy is deviate sexual intercourse which is defined as
My state does not have a separate sodomy law. It’s either sexual assault (rape) or it’s not.
Missouri law on “statutory sodomy”:
Missouri legal definition of “deviate sexual intercourse”:
So Missouri has outlawed foreplay as deviate sexual intercourse.
Essentially, the entirety of “third base,” as well as any penetration other than PIV.
I wouldn’t be surprised if most old-school sodomy laws are like that.
I mean, if you’re with a kid 14 and under, yeah.
No, Missouri hasn’t outlawed deviate sexual intercourse at all, except in specific circumstances. That section is just the definitions; “sexual intercourse” is defined a few paragraphs down.
The specific circumstances in which sexual intercourse (deviate or otherwise) is illegal are defined later in the chapter. For example, RSMo 566.060 criminalizes deviate sexual intercourse if the other party “is incapacitated, incapable of consent, or lacks the capacity to consent” or is forcibly compelled.
This is such a weird usage of the word “deviate.” I think of that word as a verb, but here it’s clearly being used in the MO statutes as an adjective. I’d expect the verb to be “deviant” rather than “deviate.”
I’m aware that legal terms often deviate from both colloquial and formal English (in non legal contexts) with terms like “monies” and “ejectment.”
I’m curious: is “deviate” as an adjectival form of “deviate” an example of legal jargon or simply a usage error by some Missouri legislator that became enshrined as law? Or is there some other explanation?
(If it’s legal jargon, I’d imagine one of he attorneys on the board could answer off the top of their head. But I’m definitely not trying to hijack the thread or ask anyone to take on a research project).
Missed the edit window. The second sentence in my post should read:
I’d expect the adjective to be “deviant” rather than “deviate.”
If the boy in question is 16 years old, how do the Missouri statutory sodomy laws (which apply to a child under 14) apply? Or does that just mean that he’s 16 now, but the acts occurred several years ago? If so, the writing is sloppy: If the story hadn’t come out until four years from now, nobody would say that she was accused of “sex acts with a 20-year-old”.
For an example of “deviate” used as a noun, by the way, a table of random numbers will often also include a table of “normal deviates”.
Missouri did criminalize any act of “deviate sexual intercourse” by same-sex couples until 2006 (just a Wikipedia cite). I don’t know for sure, but based on the wording of the statute, Missouri may have originally criminalized “deviate sexual intercourse” generally, then later decided to restrict that criminalization to same-sex couples only, before finally (in the wake of Lawrence v. Texas) re-writing its laws to comply with U.S. Supreme Court precedent. (Which not all states have done; my own home state of Georgia still has a law “on the books” but unenforceable–Georgia Code 16-2-2 (a) (1)–which purports to criminalize “sodomy”, defined as “any sexual act involving the sex organs of one person and the mouth or anus of another”).
EdelweissPirate: “Deviate” as opposed to “deviant” does seem wrong to me, too, but it seems to be used in various states (Pennsylvania; Texas). But on the other hand, Oregon, to give one example, apparently uses “deviant”.
If the boy in question was 16 (and the other person was at least 21), then the offense allegedly committed would be statutory sodomy in the second degree (566.064):
Whereas if the boy was under fourteen, it would be statutory sodomy in the first degree (566.062).
It seems to me that this post (if not the OP) and the following replies are equally “about” if and why when beyond oral sex, actual intercourses took place, that with an adult man and juvenile girl the word/crime/charge of “rape” would be used, and is not here.
I believe, but do not know, if oral sex on a woman (and/or the crime of consensual sex with a minor) without vaginal or anal penetration is a different act (even if in sentencing it is on a par with rape.
Correct. Those laws, in one form or another, have been on the books since the founding and in ye olde common law and were used to make homosexuality illegal.
All Lawrence did was hold that they could not be enforced against consenting adults acting in private in a non-commercial way. Nothing says that they cannot be enforced when done with minors or when it is non-consensual or in an act of prostitution.
And yes, it is “deviate” as in it deviates or is different from normal sexual intercourse.
Well, in my state at least, oral sex on a woman is considered penetration as a person’s tongue penetrates the vagina.
My state has no crime of “rape.” There is sexual assault and sexual abuse and varying degrees of each. Sexual assault is all forms of penetration, “however slight.”
Sexual abuse is the touching of specified areas of the body (including female breasts, but not male breasts) “with the intent to gratify or arouse the sexual desire of any person.”
The degrees of the crime are whether it was forcible, done when incapacitated, done with minors.