Frederick Sex Crime Penalties
A sex crime is any crime that falls under the sex offense statute. It includes things like rape all the way down to fourth degree sex offense which is an over-the-clothes touching of another person in a sexual part of their body such as their buttocks, genital area, or breast area.
Sex crimes are prosecuted aggressively, and the Frederick sex crime penalties that can result from a charge, can be quite severe. If you have been charged with a sex crime, contact a skilled sex crimes attorney. A qualified lawyer can adequately represent a person charged with these offenses.
Sex Crime Charges in Frederick
Sex crimes include an overarching set of behaviors, not one particular act. Sex crimes can be defined as so many different things from simple touching of another person over the clothes to the most brutal vaginal penetration where somebody is also being threatened with a weapon.
In Frederick, a person could be charged with rape in the first degree or second degree, sexual solicitation of children, sex abuse of minors, first degree sex offense, second degree sex offense, third degree sex offense, and fourth degree sex offense. The list goes on and on.
The most common felony sex crimes in Frederick are rape, sexual abuse of a minor, and sexual solicitation of a minor.
Differences Between Sex Crimes and Other Offenses
Sex crimes constitute some of the most heinous cases, and are also among the most tempestuous. Common avenues for defense in sex crime cases are that the parties know each other and have a history with each other. The likelihood or possibility of bias or motive for fabrication by another party against an individual also exists in sex crime cases far more than in other cases.
What Makes Facing Sex Crime Charges Intimidating?
Sex crime charges carry significant criminal penalties. That is part of the reason why they are so intimidating. Frederick sex crime penalties for the worst types of cases can land a person in prison for the rest of their lives, similar to a first-degree murder charge. In addition, even minor sex crime cases carry issues where the person may be required to register on the Sex Offender Registry, sometimes for the rest of their life.
There is also the social stigma of having a sex crime on one’s criminal record for the rest of their life that precludes them from different opportunities such as employment, certain kinds of jobs, applying to schools or graduate programs, and applying for specific kinds of housing.
Potential Penalties For a Sex Crime Conviction
The possible Frederick sex crime penalties one faces if convicted are decades of incarceration, up to five years of supervised probation, and up to a lifetime on the Sex Offender Registry. These kinds of criminal consequences can be extremely difficult to overcome for anybody charged.
Role of an Attorney
The role of an attorney is to make sure that the case is properly investigated, discovery is properly produced, and any issues associated with the investigation conducted by the state are properly identified.
The attorney makes sure that appropriate steps are taken to match formal objections or challenges to the evidence to obtain the best result possible for their client in court. A capable sex crimes attorney can identify issues in the chain of command and will have other ways to identify avenues to ensure that criminal charges are not brought in sex crime investigations.
It is important to work with an experienced sex crimes lawyer because people with no experience handling these kinds of cases do not understand these issues. The investigation for sex crime cases differs from investigations for other cases, and requires the lawyer to have knowledge of the procedures that police and hospital staff must follow in the collection and preservation of evidence to be admissible. In the event of a conviction, an attorney can attempt to mitigate the Frederick sex crime penalties you face.