Sexual Assault Within a Marriage: What Michigan Law Says

Being married is not a defense to sexual assault in Michigan. MCL 750.520l states that a person "may be charged and convicted" of criminal sexual conduct "even though the victim is his or her legal spouse."^[1] The criminal sexual conduct statutes, with their degrees and penalties, apply when the two people are married to each other.^[1]

If this has happened to you, you can talk to someone confidentially before deciding anything. The National Sexual Assault Hotline is free, confidential, and available 24/7 at 800-656-HOPE (4673), by texting HOPE to 64673, or by online chat at rainn.org.^[5] The National Domestic Violence Hotline is at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), or text START to 88788.^[7] Michigan's VOICES4 hotline takes calls and texts at 855-864-2374, 24 hours a day.^[8][9][10] If you are in immediate danger, call 911.

This page explains what the statute says, how Michigan's degrees of criminal sexual conduct apply inside a marriage or relationship, what the law does and does not require as proof, and the protections available to a person who reports.

What does MCL 750.520l say?

The section has two sentences. The first says that marriage does not prevent a charge: a person may be charged and convicted under the criminal sexual conduct statutes, MCL 750.520b through 750.520g, even though the victim is his or her legal spouse.^[1] The second sentence reads: "However, a person may not be charged or convicted solely because his or her legal spouse is mentally incapable."^[1] "Mentally incapable" is a defined term meaning a mental disease or defect that renders a person temporarily or permanently incapable of appraising the nature of his or her conduct.^[11] Those are the statute's words, including the word "solely"; this page does not add an interpretation of them, and how the sentence applies to particular facts is a question for a lawyer.^[1] The criminal sexual conduct statutes list force or coercion, a victim who is "mentally incapacitated," and a victim who is "physically helpless" as circumstances separate from "mentally incapable," each with its own definition.^[2][11]

A belief that a husband or wife can never be convicted of sexually assaulting a spouse is wrong under the current text of the statute.^[1]

Which degree applies between adult partners?

The Michigan offense is called criminal sexual conduct (CSC), and the degree depends on two things: whether there was sexual penetration or sexual contact, and which listed circumstance was present. Many of the listed circumstances concern children, students, and people in custody. The ones that can arise between adult spouses or partners are in the table below.

Offense	Act	Circumstances relevant between adult partners	Maximum penalty
First-degree CSC	Sexual penetration	Force or coercion plus personal injury; the actor is armed with a weapon; the penetration occurs during the commission of another felony; or personal injury to a victim the actor knows or has reason to know is mentally incapacitated or physically helpless	Felony: life or any term of years[3]
Second-degree CSC	Sexual contact	The same kinds of aggravating circumstances, such as force or coercion plus personal injury, or being armed with a weapon	Felony: 15 years[12]
Third-degree CSC	Sexual penetration	Force or coercion is used; or the actor knows or has reason to know the victim is mentally incapacitated or physically helpless	Felony: 15 years[2]
Fourth-degree CSC	Sexual contact	Force or coercion is used, including contact achieved by concealment or surprise; or the actor knows or has reason to know the victim is mentally incapacitated or physically helpless	Misdemeanor: 2 years, $500 fine, or both[13]
Assault with intent to commit CSC	An assault	Intent to commit CSC involving penetration, or intent to commit second-degree CSC	Felony: 10 years, or 5 years[14]

A person convicted of a second or subsequent offense under the first-, second-, or third-degree statutes faces a mandatory minimum sentence of at least 5 years.^[15] For first-degree CSC the statute also directs the court, in addition to the prison penalty, to sentence the defendant to lifetime electronic monitoring.^[16]

What the key terms mean

Sexual penetration and sexual contact

"Sexual penetration" means sexual intercourse, oral or anal intercourse, or any other intrusion, however slight, of any part of a person's body or of any object into the genital or anal openings of another person's body.^[17] "Sexual contact" includes the intentional touching of a person's intimate parts, or the clothing covering them, where the touching can reasonably be construed as being for sexual arousal or gratification, done for a sexual purpose, or done in a sexual manner for revenge, to inflict humiliation, or out of anger.^[17]

Force or coercion

The statute gives a list that is expressly not exhaustive. Force or coercion includes:^[18]

• Overcoming the victim through the actual application of physical force or physical violence.^[18]
• Coercing the victim to submit by threatening to use force or violence on the victim, where the victim believes the actor has the present ability to carry out the threat.^[18]
• Coercing the victim to submit by threatening to retaliate in the future against the victim or any other person, where the victim believes the actor has the ability to carry out the threat. Retaliation includes threats of physical punishment, kidnapping, or extortion.^[18]
• Overcoming the victim through concealment or by the element of surprise.^[18]

The second and third items are written in terms of threats, not of physical force actually applied: coercing a person to submit by a threat that the person believes the actor is able to carry out is itself "force or coercion."^[18]

Physically helpless and mentally incapacitated

"Physically helpless" means a person is unconscious, asleep, or for any other reason physically unable to communicate unwillingness to an act. "Mentally incapacitated" means a person is rendered temporarily incapable of appraising or controlling his or her conduct due to the influence of a narcotic, anesthetic, alcohol, or other substance, or due to an act committed on the person without consent.^[11]

Personal injury

"Personal injury" is what separates first-degree from third-degree CSC in a force case. It means bodily injury, disfigurement, mental anguish, chronic pain, pregnancy, disease, or loss or impairment of a sexual or reproductive organ.^[11][3]

What the law does not require

Two short statutes say what a prosecution does not require. In a criminal sexual conduct prosecution, "the testimony of a victim need not be corroborated," and "a victim need not resist the actor."^[4]

Michigan's rape-shield statute also restricts evidence of the complainant's sexual conduct in criminal sexual conduct prosecutions.^[19]

These rules do not lower the standard of proof. A person accused of criminal sexual conduct is presumed innocent, and the prosecutor must prove each element beyond a reasonable doubt.^[20] Whether to bring a charge is the prosecuting attorney's decision.^[21]

How this connects to domestic violence law

Michigan's statutory definition of "domestic violence" includes causing or attempting to cause a family or household member to engage in involuntary sexual activity by force, threat of force, or duress.^[22] The definition and the statutes that borrow it are explained in What "domestic violence" means in Michigan law.

A criminal sexual conduct charge can be filed together with other charges from the same incident, such as domestic assault, strangulation, or unlawful imprisonment. Penetration that occurs during the commission of another felony is one of the first-degree circumstances.^[3]

Protection and support for a person who reports

A personal protection order. A domestic relationship PPO can be sought against a spouse or former spouse, and it may prohibit assaulting, attacking, beating, molesting, or wounding a named person, entering onto premises, and other conduct.^[23][24] A different order, the nondomestic sexual assault PPO under MCL 600.2950a(2), is available when the respondent has subjected the petitioner to, threatened the petitioner with, or placed the petitioner in reasonable apprehension of sexual assault, and it may be sought and granted regardless of whether the respondent has been charged with or convicted of sexual assault.^[25] See The three types of PPO and How to get a PPO.

Confidential counseling. What a victim tells a sexual assault or domestic violence counselor in a consultation is not admissible in a civil or criminal proceeding without the victim's prior written consent, with an exception for the child protection law.^[26]

Time to decide. First-degree CSC may be charged at any time, and the periods for the other degrees given in the questions below apply to offenses committed on or after April 2, 2025.^[6] For limitations periods generally, see Statute of limitations for domestic violence.

Rights in the criminal case. What a victim is entitled to once a case is filed is covered in Crime victims' rights in Michigan, and local agencies are listed in Where to get help.

Testifying against a spouse

Michigan's spousal privilege generally lets a husband or wife decline to testify against the other in a criminal case.^[27] It does not apply in a case that grows out of a personal wrong or injury done by one spouse to the other, and where that exception applies the spouse named as the victim can be compelled to testify.^[28][29] The details are in Spousal privilege in Michigan.