You’ve been in trouble before. You’re pursuing custody. You reflect on the question, will my criminal sexual record impact my custody case? Yes, in a nutshell. Will the other parent have more rights than you? Possibly not. Your specific legal problem might be the only one in the world. The court will consider your position in the overall context of your child’s best interests. The protection of the child will be the court’s top priority.
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Child Protective Services may remove your children from your home if you are charged with a sex crime in addition to facing harsh criminal penalties like jail time and fines. If found guilty of abusing children, you risk losing your parental rights and the right to raise your children with you. If you have been accused of abusing children, Michigan Child Protective Services will look into the matter quickly. If they find evidence of abuse or neglect, they may remove the children from your care and give them to foster parents or another parent.
What Does a Criminal Sexual Conduct Mean in Michigan?
About 463,634 victims of sexual assault who are 12 or older are reported each year in the US. Any non-consensual sexual activity is considered sexual assault. It includes forcibly engaging in oral sex, unwanted sexual penetration, or fondling or caressing someone intimately without their consent.
The easiest way to describe non-consensual sex is to engage in sexual behavior with another person, regardless of gender, that person did not consent to. It is possible to communicate in a variety of ways, verbal and non-verbal, and tell whether an experience was consenting or not.
Criminal sexual conduct is the umbrella phrase used to describe all sex offenses in Michigan. Violations like rape, child molestation, indecent exposure, lewd behavior, and child pornography are all considered to be crimes of criminal sexual conduct or CSC. The severity of the offense determines which of the four CSC degrees these sex offenses fall under.
Criminal sexual conduct in the first degree or criminal sexual conduct in the third degree is typically used to describe crimes involving sexual penetration. On the other hand, crimes involving inappropriate or offensive touching are either considered criminal sexual conduct in the second or fourth degree.
CSC 1st Degree is one of the most serious accusations of criminal sexual conduct. A sentence of 25 years to life in prison is possible for two of the four degrees. The obligatory minimum sentence for these same serious felonies, which include some first-degree CSC charges, is 25 years in jail.
The first-degree CSC law in Michigan states that you could be jailed for a maximum penalty of life in prison; additional penalties, including lifetime electronic monitoring and reporting to the sex offender’s register (SORA) for those released on parole later. Most frequently, this would be a tether or an ankle bracelet.
First-degree criminal sexual conduct is frequently referred to in Michigan as “rape,” “sexual assault,” or other similar terms. A person in a position of power who oversees or oversees a detention facility is not permitted to engage in sexual activity in connection with certain “relationship”-related sex crimes, according to Michigan law like child rape or molestation of a child.
What Will a CSC Record Mean in My Child Custody Case?
In general, a felony conviction already implies serious prison time, but a CSC carries a whole set of consequences, including some specifically affecting your child custody case.
Consequences of a first-degree criminal sexual conduct conviction may include:
[ 1 ] Twenty-five years in prison or life in prison;
[ 2 ] The person is then subjected to electronic surveillance following their release from prison, which might last a lifetime;
[ 3 ] When the offender is financially capable, criminal court fines and associated court fees may be part of the sentence;
[ 4 ] The creation of a permanent “record” in the sex offenders register can bring on undesirable outcomes:
- (a) The loss of existing work and numerous future job types;
- (b) The likelihood that you may lose custody of your children, and all visits will be under strict supervision;
- (c) Limit where you can live in accordance with laws of Michigan and other states (for instance, not close to schools);
- (d) Being prohibited from continuing in certain professions, such as teaching, being an attorney, a medical professional, and several other professions (such as a pharmacy), due to the major offense;
- (e) Being prevented from visiting other countries;
- (f) Upon completion of incarceration, anyone in the United States with any type of immigration status will likely be deported.
Your record alone will open you to false sexual abuse accusations, and regardless of their seriousness will be investigated with uniform thoroughness by Child Protective Services or CPS.
A CPS investigation will be initiated in response to allegations of sexual abuse or sexual exploitation with the goal of identifying any cases of child abuse, chronic or severe neglect, abandonment, or other problems. However, these inquiries are frequently made fast, and the investigators may already be convinced you are guilty. As a result, your family may be subjected to unwarranted restrictions or the unjust termination of your parental rights.
Furthermore, CPS can seek to remove your parental rights based solely on the allegations of sex crimes you are facing, without having to show any evidence of real abuse or even witness it. CPS will bring legal action against you if you don’t cooperate. Even if you win, you can still be subject to conditions and restrictions that could have a negative impact on your family.
What Are My Chances of Getting Child Custody if I Have a CSC record?
Your chances of getting child custody will really depend on the most recent development about your conviction and the seriousness of the transgression leading to the CSC record.
Judges are required to put the child’s best interests first when making decisions about custody and visitation. And it’s a very widely held belief children are best served when both parents are actively involved in their lives. Judges work to do that in the best way they can. It still holds true whether a parent has a criminal record.
The true difficulty is the type of crime committed, including when it happened, because the term “convicted felon” encompasses a wide range of offenses. And this is where using common sense is going to be a lot helpful.
Be aware some offenses almost always result in a judge denying the offending parent any type of custody. A state’s legislation will often address this problem. Domestic violence against the other parent or the child, sexual assault against the other parent or the child, and any other forms of child abuse are examples of these types of crimes.
If the crime committed doesn’t show behavior that might threaten the child, a judge is more likely to permit criminal offenders to participate in the lives of their children. A theft that occurred ten years ago, for instance, without any future violations by the parent, is probably not going to have a big effect on a custody dispute. But a history of violence would surely, especially if there were recent episodes of such violence.
In general, the chance a violating parent will be granted joint custody increases the lesser the offense and the further in the past it happened. In fact, it’s feasible for the guilty parent to win sole legal and/or physical custody, depending on the other parent’s parenting style and history.
Just keep in mind that the judge’s judgment will be influenced by the particular facts of each case, with an emphasis on the child’s best interests.
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Goldman & Associates Law Firm is here to with information about Child Custody and Divorce in the State of Michigan.