The punishment you could be facing for a sex crimes conviction in DeKalb County varies, but on the more serious end, can include up to life imprisonment.
It is important that as early on as possible, when you think you may be facing charges or are facing charges for serious sex crimes, you contact a local DeKalb County sex crimes lawyer who can defend you, guide you, and counsel you throughout this process.
The most common sexual offense is most likely rape. Rape is when someone has carnal knowledge of another, forcibly and against their will. Carnal knowledge is any penetration of the female sex organ by the male sex organ or vice versa. It does not matter if you are married, you can still be charged with rape. It is about consent.
Another sex crime charged is child molestation or aggravated child molestation. Child molestation is broader than rape and it encompasses any immoral or indecent act, in the presence of or with any child under the age of 16, with the intent to arouse or satisfy the sexual desires of either yourself or the child. It becomes aggravated when it involves an act of sodomy.
Other common charges are pandering and prostitution, which means soliciting a prostitute or offering yourself as a prostitute.
Finally, sexual battery and aggravated sexual battery are fairly common charges in DeKalb County. Sexual battery is an intentional physical contact with intimate parts of another person’s body. The definition of intimate parts is a little bit open to interpretation in the courts. However, it is generally considered the primary genital area around the buttocks, the groin, inner thighs of a male, and the breast of a female. Again, like rape, it is not consensual. It becomes aggravated when someone intentionally penetrates another person’s sexual organ or anus with a foreign object.
Other than the investigation, facing sex crime charges carries a social stigma from the very beginning. News outlets typically run a story early on when someone is faced with serious charges like rape or aggravated child molestation.
After being charged with these crimes, people often find their pictures in the paper, on the news, and on the internet, creating a mental burden that is borne from a very early point in the case. It is something that defense attorneys and counselors, in representing their clients, have to help alleviate as best as possible. This mental burden, mainly from the social stigma and the media onslaught, is what our clients bear in sex crimes cases. Attorneys do their best to mitigate all of this as they enter the defense phase in representing their clients.
It is important for someone facing these serious charges to be able to continue to live their day-to-day life as normally as possible and with as much dignity as they possibly can muster.
A lawyer is more than just someone who shows up in court and defends these cases in front of a judge and a jury and negotiates with the prosecutor. Lawyers who are qualified to handle sex crime cases in DeKalb County are far more than that. They function as a lead investigator, and as a therapist in a way, as they counsel you on how to go on, continue to work, live your life, and be with your family, even as you are faced with these difficult charges.
Accordingly, it is important to choose a lawyer who you think can provide you more than just a sound defense, because these cases require so much more than just someone to show up in a courtroom and review some evidence.
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