In Michigan, we have four degrees of
criminal sexual conduct. We have first
degree, second degree, third degree, and
fourth degree. The first degree is the
most serious. That is a life offense,
meaning you can be put in prison for at
least for up to life. There is then a
portion of that where if the child is
under 13 uh and there’s a penetrative
act that the uh offender could be in
prison for a minimum of 25 years.
There’s then secondderee criminal sexual
conduct which is a contact offense that
is a touching of a minor. There’s third
degree which is a again a penetrative
act um sexual or um sexual intercourse
or a uh fellatio a [ __ ] that is uh
punishable by up to 15 years in prison
as is the second degree and that focuses
more on like we talked about sexual
encounters between adults and children
more than anything else. Then we have
fourth degree, which is a two-year, what
we call a high court misdemeanor,
treated the same as a felony, but for
some reason they call it a high court
misdemeanor. That is a contact offense.
Uh the best example of that is if
someone, two adults, were out at a
restaurant or at a bar um and somebody
touched a woman’s breast or touched a
woman’s butt. That would be a criminal
sexual conduct in the fourth degree. And
each one of them carries different
levels of time on the registry for sex
offender registry all the way from
non-public registration all the way up
to life with a GPS tether. So they vary
depending on the offense.