Georgia Sex Crimes

If you have been charged with rape, sexual battery, solicitation, lewd conduct, pandering, indecent exposure, child molestation, enticing a child for indecent purposes, sexual exploitation, electronically furnishing obscene material to minors, or aggravated sodomy in Georgia, you should contact a Georgia sex offense lawyer right away to ensure that your rights are being aggressively defended.

Our Fulton County, and Cobb County criminal defense firm are aggressive litigators who successfully defend the rights of clients accused of serious crimes, including sex crimes.

Each year there are countless cases of individuals wrongfully accused of and charged with sexual offenses in Georgia. In this situation, it is very important that you secure the representation of an Atlanta-West Georgia sex crime defense lawyer who is skilled in sex crime law and that will be able to use evidence to show your good character, while using evidence which will show the lack of character of the accuser in the case.

Listed below are some sex crimes which may result in severe penalties, misdemeanor or felony charges, monetary fines, and mandatory sex offender registration:

• Rape -This is a serious crime in which one individual uses force, violence, or fear to sexually penetrate a victim against his or her will. Georgia rape penalties- O.C.G.A. § 16-6-1 (b) “A person convicted of the offense of rape shall be punished by, imprisonment for life without parole, by imprisonment for life, or by imprisonment for not less than ten nor more than twenty years. Any person convicted under this Code section shall, in addition, be subject to the sentencing and punishment provisions of Code Sections § 17-10-6.1 and § 17-10-7.”
• Sexual battery – This sex crime occurs when, for sexual arousal, a person touches the intimate part of another individual against his or her will. O.C.G.A. § 16-6-22.1 (c) “Except as otherwise provided in this Code section, a person convicted of the offense of sexual battery shall be punished as for a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature.”
• Solicitation – Solicitation is a crime in which one person pays for or offers an incentive to another individual for sex. Many times people are arrested for solicitation during undercover sting operations when a police officer poses as a prostitute, then arrests the suspected solicitor.
• Lewd conduct – This crime takes place in a public place when one person inappropriately touches or grabs another person’s buttocks, genitals, or breasts for the purpose of gratification, sexual arousal, annoyance or offense.
• Pandering – A person commits the offense of pandering when one solicits a person to perform an act of prostitution in one’s own behalf or in behalf of a third person or when one knowingly assembles persons at a fixed place for the purpose of being solicited by others to perform an act of prostitution.
• Indecent Exposure/Public Indecency – This crime occurs when a person commits 1) an act of sexual intercourse, 2) a lewd exposure of sexual organs, 3) a lewd appearance in a state of partial or complete nudity, or 4) a lewd caress or indecent fondling of the body of another person in a public place.
• Child Molestation – This is defined as “any immoral or indecent act to or in the presence of or with any child under the age of 16 years with the intent to arouse or satisfy the sexual desires of either the child or the person”. Aggravated child molestation is further defined as “any act of child molestation which includes an act of sodomy or intercourse”. These crimes are some of the most serious in Georgia and are one of the types of criminal offenses that Conaway & Strickler, P.C. is deeply familiar with. If you have been accused or are facing investigation or prosecution for this type of offense you need to seek legal representation immediately.
• Enticing a Child for Indecent Purposes – Under Georgia law this offense is defined as taking or soliciting a child under the age of sixteen years to any place whatsoever for the purpose of child molestation or other indecent acts. This is a felony offense punishable from 1 to 20 years in prison.
• Sexual exploitation of children – it is unlawful to use, employ, persuade, induce, use, entice or coerce any minor to engage in or assist any other person to engage in any sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing any visual medium depicting such conduct.
• Electronically furnishing obscene material to minors – if one knows or has good reason to know the character of the material furnished, the person electronically furnishes to an individual whom the person knows or should have known is a minor any picture, photograph, etc of a person or a portion of the human body which depicts sexual conduct, nudity or abuse which is harmful to minors, or any written or aural matter that contains such material and taken as a whole lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value and incites prurient interest instead.
• Aggravated Sodomy – a person commits the act of aggravated sodomy when he/she forces another person against their will, or a child of less than ten years of age, to engage in oral or anal sex. This crime is a felony and is punishable from 1 to 20 years in prison.

If you have been charged with a sex crime charge in Georgia, you are facing serious consequences which may carry life long penalties and may ruin your reputation within your community and your chances to pursue certain personal and professional endeavors. If you are convicted of committing a sexual offense, you are facing a long prison term and monetary fines, and you may have to register as a sex offender with State and local law enforcement agencies for the rest of your life.

If convicted, you may have to register with the Georgia Violent Sexual Offender Registry, an organization which stores information regarding sex offenders who were released from prison or placed on probation after July 1, 1996. Certain convicted sex offenders in Georgia will be forced to register as a sex offender with the Sheriff, in accordance with Official Code of Georgia Annotated statute § 42-1-12.

Failure to Register as a Sex Offender

Persons who have been convicted of certain crimes in Georgia including child molestation and aggravated child molestation, are now required to register as sex offenders with the county sheriff’s office in which they reside. This is a new statute in Georgia and is highly complicated. Failure to register is a felony under Georgia law.