{"id":15079,"date":"2022-01-28T09:04:37","date_gmt":"2022-01-28T14:04:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedailyrecord.com\/maryland-family-law\/?p=15079"},"modified":"2022-02-02T21:40:19","modified_gmt":"2022-02-03T02:40:19","slug":"advocates-again-seek-to-ban-spousal-defense-for-sex-crimes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedailyrecord.com\/maryland-family-law\/2022\/01\/28\/advocates-again-seek-to-ban-spousal-defense-for-sex-crimes\/","title":{"rendered":"Advocates again seek to ban spousal defense for sex crimes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

\u201cIt\u2019s about time that we make this change,” says Del. Charlotte Crutchfield, D-Montgomery. “Let’s get this bill through and just give married people the same protections.” (AP Photo\/Julio Cortez)<\/p><\/div>\n

State lawmakers are eyeing 2022 as the year Maryland abolishes the use of marriage as a defense against rape.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is and should be a no-brainer,\u201d said Del. Charlotte Crutchfield, D-Montgomery, who has sponsored legislation in the House that would eliminate the spousal defense justification.<\/p>\n

This is hardly the first attempt by advocates of changing the law. This is the third session lawmakers have presented the legislation, cross-filed as Senate Bill 33 and House Bill 153.<\/p>\n

The COVID-19 pandemic shortened the 2020 legislative session, and the bill failed to emerge from a legislative conference committee last year, a casualty of a late vote and the addition of a contentious amendment that dealt with fourth-degree sexual assault and the definition of sexual contact, lawmakers say.<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s pandemic-related precautions also prevented in-person hearings and barred advocates — who play a crucial role in the passage of bills \u2013 from coming in person to lobby lawmakers on behalf of the measure.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers and advocates see the passage of SB33 as a message to victims and perpetrators that indicates rape is unacceptable.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to propel Maryland forward into 2022 and the 21st century,\u201d said Sen. Susan Lee, D-Montgomery, who has sponsored the Senate bill for the last three sessions.<\/p>\n

Lee said members of the Senate\u2019s Judicial Proceedings Committee and Chairman William C. Smith Jr.\u00a0 have already expressed support for the bill.<\/p>\n

Under current Maryland law, a person cannot be prosecuted for certain sexual crimes if the victim is the legal spouse of the perpetrator at the time of the offense. This includes cases of first- and second-degree rape and third- and fourth-degree sexual offenses.<\/p>\n

It does not apply to unmarried couples.<\/p>\n

Over the years, many states have repealed such laws — often referred to as spousal defense laws. Advocates say these laws are rooted in patriarchal ideas that women are the property of their husbands and are \u201carchaic\u201d and antiquated.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour right to control your body should not change just because you\u2019re married,\u201d said Lisae Jordan, executive director and counsel for the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault.<\/p>\n

In testimony to the Senate last year, Dr. Christina Dardis, an assistant professor of psychology at Towson University who has published 38 peer-reviewed papers on sexual violence and intimate partner violence, said the marital exemption originates from 18th century English common law that states a woman\u2019s legal existence is suspended during marriage.<\/p>\n

Dardis estimated that 10-14% of women are raped by their husbands in their lifetime, and a study indicated that marital sexual violence resulted in \u201csignificantly more physical injuries to survivors\u201d than nonmarital sexual violence.<\/p>\n

The spousal defense has also been opposed by the Maryland State Bar Association.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe existence of the spousal defense to rape and other sexual offenses sends a message to society that rape is less serious of a crime when committed against a spouse instead of an acquaintance or stranger,\u201d the MSBA\u2019s family and juvenile law section stated in its written testimony.<\/p>\n

Some cases of nonconsensual touches can be prosecuted as a second-degree assault but that\u2019s not always enough for the victim, said Carrie J. Williams, an assistant Maryland attorney general. If a spouse can be prosecuted for assault without consent, so, too, should cases that involve sexual contact.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s important to survivors to be able to have the crime perpetrated against them be called what it was,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n

In past sessions, bill hearings prompted questions about how consent is agreed upon in marriage. This included whether there\u2019s a need for verbal consent for every touch and where the line should be drawn between consent and refusal.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s assume that someone does call the police and says, \u2018My husband just swatted me on the rear end, and I want to press charges,\u2019\u201d Williams said. \u201cThere are multiple safeguards in place that would prevent that prosecution from going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite last year\u2019s defeat in Annapolis, both Lee and Crutchfield remain optimistic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about time that we make this change,” Crutchfield said. “Let’s get this bill through and just give married people the same protections.”<\/p>\n

Capital News Service contributed to this story.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

State lawmakers are eyeing 2022 as the year Maryland abolishes the use of marriage as a defense against rape. \u201cThis is and should be a no-brainer,\u201d said Del. Charlotte Crutchfield, D-Montgomery, who has sponsored legislation in the House that would eliminate the spousal defense justification. This is hardly the first attempt by advocates of changing …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7790,"featured_media":15080,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52569,2536,71496],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-featured","category-cover-stories","never_free"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAdvocates again seek to ban spousal defense for sex crimes - Maryland Family Law<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thedailyrecord.com\/maryland-family-law\/2022\/01\/28\/advocates-again-seek-to-ban-spousal-defense-for-sex-crimes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Advocates again seek to ban spousal defense for sex crimes - Maryland Family Law\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"State lawmakers are eyeing 2022 as the year Maryland abolishes the use of marriage as a defense against rape. \u201cThis is and should be a no-brainer,\u201d said Del. 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