Michigan Criminal Sexual Conduct (CSC) Law: The Four Degrees Explained

Michigan prosecutes sexual assault as "criminal sexual conduct" (CSC) under the Criminal Sexual Conduct Act, MCL 750.520a and the sections that follow.^[10] The Act has four degrees and two assault offenses. Which one applies depends on two questions: was the act sexual penetration or sexual contact, and which of the circumstances listed in the statute was present?^[1][2][3]

This page explains how the Act is organized and hands you on to the page for each offense. It is a map; the page for each degree lists every circumstance in the statute's own terms.

Where does the CSC law come from?

The degree-based statutes were enacted by 1974 PA 266, which repealed the earlier rape statute and put in its place "a more comprehensive and detailed series of statutes penalizing different degrees of criminal sexual conduct."^[11] The new law was written to be sex-neutral, so that men as well as women are protected.^[12] Why Michigan's statutes no longer use the word "rape" is covered in Is "rape" a legal term in Michigan?

The statutes use two defined words for the people involved. "Actor" means a person accused of criminal sexual conduct, and "victim" means the person alleging to have been subjected to it.^[13]

Penetration or contact: the first dividing line

First- and third-degree CSC require that the person "engages in sexual penetration with another person". Second- and fourth-degree CSC require that the person "engages in sexual contact with another person".^[2]

"Sexual penetration" means sexual intercourse, cunnilingus, fellatio, 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.^[14] "Sexual contact" includes the intentional touching of intimate parts, or of the clothing covering the immediate area of those parts, if 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.^[15] Both definitions are set out in sexual penetration vs. sexual contact.

The circumstances: the second dividing line

An act of penetration or contact is a CSC offense under these four statutes only if one of the circumstances listed in the statute for that degree exists.^[2] The benchbook that Michigan judges use describes the structure this way: "the presence of certain circumstances may escalate a sexual penetration offense from a CSC-III offense to a CSC-I offense and a sexual contact offense from a CSC-IV offense to a CSC-II offense."^[3]

The circumstances fall into a few families. Each links to the guide that covers it:

• Age. Penetration with a person under 13 is first-degree CSC, and penetration with a person at least 13 and under 16 is third-degree CSC.^[16][17] See the age of consent and age-based CSC charges.
• Force or coercion. Penetration accomplished by force or coercion is third-degree CSC; with personal injury to the victim it is first-degree CSC.^[17][18] See force or coercion.
• Incapacity. Third-degree CSC includes penetration where the actor knows or has reason to know that the victim is mentally incapable, mentally incapacitated, or physically helpless.^[17] See incapacitation, intoxication and consent.
• Relationship and authority. For a person aged 13 to 15, first-degree CSC applies where the actor is a member of the same household, is related by blood or affinity to the fourth degree, or is in a position of authority and used it to coerce the victim to submit.^[19] See relatives and household members and position of authority.
• Schools. Teachers, substitute teachers and administrators are named in the first-degree statute for enrolled students aged 13 to 15 and in the third-degree statute for students aged 16 and 17.^[19][20] See teacher-student sexual conduct laws.
• Other aggravators. First-degree CSC also covers penetration under circumstances involving the commission of any other felony, and penetration by an actor armed with a weapon.^[21][22]

Second-degree CSC applies the first-degree circumstances to sexual contact, and adds provisions for corrections and detention staff that appear in no other degree.^[23][24]

The six offenses at a glance

Offense	Act	How the statute labels it	Maximum penalty	Mandatory minimum
CSC first degree, MCL 750.520b	Penetration	Felony	Life or any term of years[4]	25 years if the actor is 17 or older and the victim is under 13; life without parole for certain repeat offenses against a child under 13; at least 5 years for a second or subsequent offense[25][26][27]
CSC second degree, MCL 750.520c	Contact	Felony	15 years[5]	At least 5 years for a second or subsequent offense[27]
CSC third degree, MCL 750.520d	Penetration	Felony	15 years[6]	At least 5 years for a second or subsequent offense[27]
CSC fourth degree, MCL 750.520e	Contact	Misdemeanor	2 years or a fine of up to $500, or both[7]	None in MCL 750.520e
Assault with intent to commit CSC involving penetration, MCL 750.520g(1)	Assault	Felony	10 years[28]	None in MCL 750.520g
Assault with intent to commit CSC in the second degree, MCL 750.520g(2)	Assault	Felony	5 years[29]	None in MCL 750.520g

The mandatory provisions are explained in mandatory minimum sentences and second or subsequent offenses. A fuller table, with other sex offenses, is in the penalties chart.

Felony or misdemeanor?

The statutes call first-, second- and third-degree CSC and both assault offenses felonies. Fourth-degree CSC is "a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than 2 years or a fine of not more than $500.00, or both."^[8]

That label is only part of the picture. The Code of Criminal Procedure defines "felony" as a violation of a penal law for which the offender may be punished by imprisonment for more than 1 year, or an offense expressly designated by law to be a felony.^[9] District court has trial jurisdiction over misdemeanors punishable by not more than 1 year; it conducts preliminary examinations in felony cases and in misdemeanor cases beyond that limit, and sentencing in those cases is by a circuit judge.^[30] The path of a case is laid out in the timeline of a felony CSC case.

What else do all CSC charges have in common?

• Intent. The benchbook states that criminal sexual conduct is most often a general intent crime, while assault with intent to commit CSC involving sexual penetration is a specific intent crime.^[31]
• No corroboration rule. The testimony of a victim need not be corroborated in prosecutions under MCL 750.520b to 750.520g.^[32] See one-witness cases and corroboration.
• No resistance rule. A victim need not resist the actor.^[33]
• No marital exemption. A person may be charged and convicted even though the victim is his or her legal spouse; the one limit is that a person may not be charged or convicted solely because the spouse is mentally incapable.^[34] The section was amended twice in 2023; the second act, 2023 PA 126, effective September 27, 2023, removed the words "under the age of 16" that 2023 PA 77 had contained.^[35]
• Lesser offenses. A judge or jury may not convict of an uncharged "cognate" lesser offense even though the crime is divided into degrees.^[36]
• Defenses. Consent can be used to negate the elements of force or coercion, but it does not apply where the complainant is under 16.^[37][38] See consent under the CSC law and defenses to sex-crime charges.

What follows a conviction besides the sentence?

Three consequences are attached to particular degrees rather than to CSC as a whole. Probation is not available for first- or third-degree CSC.^[39] Lifetime electronic monitoring is part of the sentence for a first-degree CSC conviction other than one sentenced to life without parole, and for second-degree CSC where the contact was committed by a person 17 or older against a person under 13.^[40][41][42] And the deadline for bringing charges runs from no limit at all for first-degree CSC to 10 years or the alleged victim's 21st birthday, whichever is later, for fourth-degree CSC.^[43][44]

Those subjects have their own pages: probation and CSC convictions, lifetime electronic monitoring, the statute of limitations and the sex offender registry.

What people get wrong

"The higher the number, the less serious the charge." Second and third degree carry the same 15-year maximum, and it is third degree, not second, that is excluded from probation.^[5][6][39]

"Fourth degree is just a misdemeanor." It carries up to 2 years, which places it within the Code of Criminal Procedure's definition of a felony.^[7][9]

"Without force there is no CSC." Several circumstances have no force element. Age alone is enough where the other person is under 13, or is at least 13 and under 16 in a penetration case.^[16][17]