Second-Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct in Michigan (MCL 750.520c)

Second-degree criminal sexual conduct (CSC) is sexual contact with another person under one of the aggravating circumstances listed in MCL 750.520c(1).^[1] It is a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than 15 years.^[7] The circumstances largely mirror those for first-degree CSC, applied to contact instead of penetration, with four more that concern corrections and detention settings.^[1][4]

This page sets out what "sexual contact" means, every circumstance the statute lists, and the penalty provisions.

What is "sexual contact"?

"Sexual contact" includes the intentional touching of the victim's or actor's intimate parts, or the intentional touching of the clothing covering the immediate area of those parts, "if that intentional touching can reasonably be construed as being for the purpose of sexual arousal or gratification, done for a sexual purpose, or in a sexual manner for" revenge, to inflict humiliation, or out of anger.^[6] "Intimate parts" includes the primary genital area, groin, inner thigh, buttock, or breast of a human being.^[10]

The purpose element is judged objectively. The Court of Appeals has said the conduct should be viewed under a reasonable person standard when deciding whether a touching could reasonably be construed as being for a sexual purpose.^[11] More detail is in sexual penetration vs. sexual contact.

The circumstances in MCL 750.520c(1)

Subsection (1) has twelve lettered subdivisions, (a) through (l). Any one is enough.

(a) The other person is under 13

"That other person is under 13 years of age."^[1]

(b) The other person is at least 13 but under 16, and a listed relationship exists

1. The actor is a member of the same household as the victim.^[2]
2. The actor is related by blood or affinity to the fourth degree to the victim.^[2]
3. The actor is in a position of authority over the victim and used this authority to coerce the victim to submit.^[2]
4. The actor is a teacher, substitute teacher, or administrator of the public school, nonpublic school, school district, or intermediate school district in which that other person is enrolled.^[2]
5. The actor is an employee or contractual service provider of that school or district, a volunteer who is not a student in any public or nonpublic school, or an employee of the state, a local unit of government or the United States assigned to provide any service to the school or district, and uses that status to gain access to, or to establish a relationship with, the other person.^[2]
6. The actor is an employee, contractual service provider, or volunteer of a child care organization, or a person licensed to operate a foster family home or foster family group home, in which the other person is a resident, and the sexual contact occurs during the period of that residency.^[2]

Related guides: relatives and household members, position of authority, and teacher-student sexual conduct laws.

(c) Another felony

"Sexual contact occurs under circumstances involving the commission of any other felony."^[3]

(d) The actor is aided or abetted by one or more other persons

This applies where the actor is aided or abetted by 1 or more other persons and either knows or has reason to know that the victim is mentally incapable, mentally incapacitated, or physically helpless, or uses force or coercion to accomplish the sexual contact.^[3]

(e) A weapon

"The actor is armed with a weapon, or any article used or fashioned in a manner to lead a person to reasonably believe it to be a weapon."^[3]

(f) Personal injury and force or coercion

"The actor causes personal injury to the victim and force or coercion is used to accomplish the sexual contact." Force or coercion "includes, but is not limited to" the circumstances listed in the first-degree statute.^[3] Those are physical force or violence, threats of present force, threats of future retaliation, unethical or unacceptable medical treatment or examination, and concealment or surprise.^[12] "Personal injury" means bodily injury, disfigurement, mental anguish, chronic pain, pregnancy, disease, or loss or impairment of a sexual or reproductive organ.^[13] See force or coercion.

(g) Personal injury and an incapable, incapacitated or helpless victim

"The actor causes personal injury to the victim and the actor knows or has reason to know that the victim is mentally incapable, mentally incapacitated, or physically helpless."^[3] The definition of "mentally incapacitated" was changed by 2023 PA 65, effective October 10, 2023, to name alcohol and to remove the condition that the substance was administered without the person's consent.^[14] See incapacitation, intoxication and consent.

(h) A vulnerable person and a relative or person in authority

This applies where the other person is mentally incapable, mentally disabled, mentally incapacitated, or physically helpless, and the actor is related to the victim by blood or affinity to the fourth degree, or is in a position of authority over the victim and used this authority to coerce the victim to submit.^[3]

(i) through (l): corrections, jail and juvenile-facility settings

These four circumstances appear only in the second-degree statute.^[4]

• (i) Department of Corrections. The other person is under the jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections and the actor is an employee or contractual employee of, or a volunteer with, the department who knows that.^[4]
• (j) Youth correctional facility. The other person is under the department's jurisdiction and the actor is an employee or contractual employee of, or a volunteer with, a private vendor that operates a youth correctional facility, and knows that.^[5]
• (k) County prisoners and probationers. The other person is a prisoner or probationer under the jurisdiction of a county for purposes of imprisonment or a work program or other probationary program, and the actor is an employee or contractual employee of, or a volunteer with, the county or the Department of Corrections who knows that.^[5]
• (l) Juvenile facilities. The actor knows or has reason to know that a court has detained the victim in a facility while awaiting a trial or hearing, or committed the victim to a facility after the victim was found responsible for an act that would be a crime if committed by an adult, and the actor is an employee or contractual employee of, or a volunteer with, that facility.^[5]

What is the penalty?

Provision	What it says
Maximum term, MCL 750.520c(2)(a)	Imprisonment for not more than 15 years[7]
Mandatory minimum, MCL 750.520f	At least 5 years for a second or subsequent offense[9]
Lifetime electronic monitoring, MCL 750.520c(2)(b)	Required if the violation involved sexual contact committed by an individual 17 or older against an individual less than 13[8]
Fine	The statute authorizes none[7][15]
Probation	Not excluded by the probation statute, which names first and third degree[16]

A Michigan court may not set a minimum sentence that exceeds two-thirds of the statutory maximum.^[17] For sentencing-guidelines purposes second-degree CSC is a Class C crime against a person.^[18] See sentencing guidelines for CSC and second or subsequent offenses.

Lifetime electronic monitoring

Unlike first-degree CSC, the second-degree statute ties monitoring to age: the court "shall sentence the defendant to lifetime electronic monitoring under section 520n if the violation involved sexual contact committed by an individual 17 years of age or older against an individual less than 13 years of age."^[8] The Court of Appeals has read the monitoring statutes as applying only to persons who have been released on parole or from prison.^[19] See lifetime electronic monitoring.

Probation rules that are specific to this offense

If probation is ordered for a registry-listed offense, the term is any term of years but not less than 5 years.^[20] The rule allowing early discharge from probation does not apply to a person convicted under MCL 750.520c.^[21] See probation and CSC convictions.

Registry

The registry tier for second-degree CSC depends on the victim's age. It is listed as a Tier III offense when committed against an individual less than 13, and as a Tier II offense when committed against an individual 13 or older.^[22][23] A Tier II offender must comply for 25 years and a Tier III offender for life.^[24] See registry tiers.

Time limits and lesser offenses

For a second-degree offense committed on or after April 2, 2025, an indictment may be found and filed within 15 years after the offense or by the alleged victim's 42nd birthday, whichever is later.^[25] Offenses before that date keep the periods written in 2018.^[26] See the statute of limitations for sex crimes.

Second-degree CSC is not automatically available to a jury as a fallback on a first-degree charge. The benchbook explains that a judge or jury may not convict of a "cognate" lesser offense even where the crime is divided into degrees.^[27] It also states that assault with intent to commit CSC in the second degree is a necessarily included lesser offense of second-degree CSC.^[28] See assault with intent to commit CSC.

What people get wrong

"Second degree is a lesser version of rape." It is a contact offense. No penetration is alleged in a second-degree charge.^[29]

"Corrections-staff cases are fourth-degree CSC." The corrections, county and juvenile-facility provisions are subdivisions (i) through (l) of the second-degree statute.^[4][5]

"Lifetime monitoring follows every second-degree conviction." The statute requires it only where the actor was 17 or older and the other person was less than 13.^[8]

"A touch is only criminal if the person admits a sexual motive." The test is whether the touching can reasonably be construed as being for a sexual purpose, viewed objectively.^[6][11]