The charges against Strauss-Kahn

The Mail reports:

Looking haggard and wearing the previous day’s clothes Strauss-Kahn, 62, who should have been meeting with European finance ministers in Brussels, stood at the bench next to his lawyer Benjamin Brafman as prosecutors outlined the severity of the charges against him.

These include two counts of a first degree criminal sexual act, two counts of sexual abuse, attempted rape, unlawful imprisonment and forcible touching. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

A one-page indictment provided further lurid claims, accusing Strauss-Kahn of forcing the maid to take part in both oral and anal sex.

The court papers claim he forcibly touched the woman’s breasts, twice “forcibly made contact with his penis and the informant’s mouth” and “engaged in oral sexual conduct and anal sexual conduct with another person by forcible compulsion.”

Media outlets repeatedly mention the charge of “criminal sexual act” without clearly telling readers what the term means. Here is the relevant text from the New York State Penal Code, which I quoted in VFR’s first entry on the DSK arrest two days ago:

130.50 Criminal sexual act in the first degree.

A person is guilty of criminal sexual act in the first degree when he or she engages in oral sexual conduct or anal sexual conduct with another person … [b]y forcible compulsion….

Criminal sexual act in the first degree is a class B felony.

However, the language, in both the Penal Code and the indictment, is ambiguous. Is contact without penetration criminal sexual conduct? Is Strauss-Kahn charged only with contact or with penetration?

The Mail article partially answers the latter question. It says that the maid claimed that during the attack Strauss-Kahn “forced her to perform oral sex on him.” Which leads to another question: how, without holding a knife or gun to a person’s head, does one force a person to do that?

- end of initial entry -

Ken Hechtman writes:

You wrote:

The Mail article partially answers the latter question. It reports that the maid claimed that during the attack Strauss-Kahn “forced her to perform oral sex on him.” Which leads to another question: how, without holding a knife or gun to a person’s head, does one force a person to do that?

I guess you’ve never been to prison. If someone gets punched in the face enough times, they’ll do pretty much anything to avoid getting punched in the face again.

LA replies:

Ok. But the prosecutors don’t say he punched her in the face.

Ken Hechtman replies:

It doesn’t say he didn’t. I’m sure the exact sequence of events will come out during the trial. For what it’s worth, I’m still a bit skeptical of the victim/police version, but I’m reserving judgment until I can ask some Parti Socialiste friends who might know Strauss-Kahn or might know him by reputation.

In general though, if a rape victim “co-operates” to avoid an immediate threat, that counts as being forced. It’s not in the same legal or moral category as dinner and a movie. For some people, “enough times” is zero. They’ll avoid getting hit even once. That still counts as forced.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at May 17, 2011 07:40 AM | Send