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Civil Rights and Discrimination
Symposium: 50th Anniversary of the Minnesota Criminal Code-Looking Back and Looking Forward
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Minnesota's Criminal Sexual Conduct Statutes: A Call For Change, Jenna Yauch-Erickson
Minnesota's Criminal Sexual Conduct Statutes: A Call For Change, Jenna Yauch-Erickson
Symposium: 50th Anniversary of the Minnesota Criminal Code-Looking Back and Looking Forward
Minnesota criminalizes five degrees of Criminal Sexual Conduct (“CSC”). The base conduct prohibited in fifth degree CSC is nonconsensual sexual contact. The four higher degrees of CSC require one or more aggravating elements in addition to a nonconsensual sexual act. The two aggravating elements which distinguish the degrees of CSC in Minnesota are force and personal injury. These aggravators are supposed to separate out the worst offenses and offenders for the harshest punishment. But problematic statutory definitions and judicial interpretations have created overlap in the meaning of force and injury. Because the same conduct satisfies both the force and injury …