Sexual Assault charges are the rage in Denver County and across Colorado. Police are quick to charge allegations and District Attorneys eagerly accept and file them. I can’t think of any charge which requires less evidence and has more serious consequences. This is true for two reasons:
Sexual Assault Does Not Require Physical “Evidence”
Touch someone on the shoulder and then look at the evidence of the touch. It is the same way for a sexual assault charge. In Arapahoe, Adams and Jefferson County, you don’t need bruises, vaginal tearing and semen to make a case stick. All you need is touch. Touch which does not leave any evidence. At trial, men are being convicted and sent to prison because a jury believes the woman over the man. Face it, women don’t like men who are accused of sexual assault and men like to rescue women who accuse a man. This formula results in full prisons, overwhelmed probation officers, and SOMB treatment providers with too many clients.
The second reason involves the type of punishment for sex offenders in Douglas, Grand County and Elbert County. Someone, somewhere, must have said that a sex offender is the worst type of human, and we should crucify them. When I started practicing law twenty-three years ago, it was not like this. We did not have the ridiculous sex offender registry laws, standardized Sex Offender Management Board treatment and we did not have Indeterminate Sentencing. The result? Men and women went to treatment, did prison time, completed probation, and then moved on. Today, there is no such thing to ending your involvement in the sex offender industry.
We Need Fundamental Changes with Sex Offenders
Where else but America where the punishment for touching a child (sexual assault on a child) or having sex with a woman (I am not talking about a crime of violence – just a case where the woman says the next day that she did not consent to save face with a boyfriend) results in a worse punishment than if you had shot someone. I tell clients they’d be better off having violently attacked someone, that having sexually touched them.
Fix the Sex Offender Boat
The Sexual Assault criminal justice boat is upside down. It is time to turn it right side up. Legislators will need to put on their big boy pants and face the public with the simple truth: sex offenders are not the devil. They are men and women who get drunk, get lonely, experience mental illness, and make the mistake of sexual contact. Only a small percentage of sex offenders are dangerous and need to be contained. Most sex offenders in places like Routt County, Moffat County and Rio Blanco County have a very low recidivism rate, and should be treated accordingly.
If you have been charged with Sexual Assault of any kind, give our lawyers at call at 303-731-0719. Together, we can protect your future.