Short answer: First degree criminal sexual conduct carries up to life in prison. Where the complainant was under 13 and the accused was 17 or older, MCL 750.520b imposes a 25-year mandatory minimum plus lifetime electronic monitoring, and every conviction requires Tier III lifetime registration.
The Sentence
CSC 1st is punishable by imprisonment for life or any term of years. There is no statutory maximum below life, which leaves a sentencing judge enormous latitude and makes the guideline calculation and the mitigation presentation genuinely decisive.
The Mandatory Minimum
Where the complainant was under 13 and the accused was 17 or older, the statute requires a minimum of 25 years. This is the provision that makes charge negotiation so important: a reduction to CSC 2nd or CSC 3rd removes that floor entirely.
What Follows the Sentence
- Lifetime electronic monitoring on release, in the mandatory-minimum circumstance
- Tier III registration — life, with in-person verification four times a year
- Residency, employment and school restrictions that follow from registration
- No limitations period under MCL 767.24, so charges can be brought decades later
Why the First Weeks Decide So Much
Charging decisions are made early and can be influenced. Evidence — video especially — disappears early. And the preliminary examination, which happens early, is where witnesses get locked into sworn accounts that anchor the whole case. Read more on CSC 1st degree and how these cases are defended.
How the Guidelines Interact with the Mandatory Minimum
Where the 25-year floor applies, the guidelines cannot take a sentence below it. Where it does not apply, the guideline range is the practical battleground, and it is built from scored variables that are genuinely contestable.
That distinction is why the charged subsection matters so much. A CSC 1st count that does not carry the mandatory minimum is a fundamentally different case from one that does, even though both sit under the same statute.
Lifetime Electronic Monitoring
Where the mandatory minimum applies, lifetime electronic monitoring follows on release. It is a GPS tether, worn indefinitely, with its own compliance obligations and its own offences for tampering or failing to charge it.
Clients rarely factor this in when weighing an offer, and they should. It is a permanent condition that shapes employment and daily movement long after supervision otherwise ends.
What Realistically Changes the Outcome
- Charge negotiation. Moving off a subsection that carries the mandatory minimum is the single highest-value outcome available.
- Guideline scoring challenges. Offence variables are frequently over-scored, and correcting one can move the range by years.
- The preliminary examination. Sworn testimony taken early becomes the impeachment material later.
- Independent forensic review. A sexual assault examination documents contact, not lack of consent, and that distinction has to be made plainly.
- Suppression motions. In a case built on a statement, excluding the statement can end the prosecution.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there any way around the 25-year mandatory minimum?
The reliable route is to resolve the case to a charge that does not carry it — CSC 2nd or CSC 3rd, for example. Once a conviction under that subsection is entered, the floor binds the judge.
Does good time reduce a Michigan sentence?
Michigan abolished good time for most offences. Parole eligibility is generally reached at the minimum sentence, and for CSC offences parole is far from automatic.
What is lifetime electronic monitoring?
A GPS tether worn indefinitely after release, with its own reporting and maintenance obligations and separate offences for tampering or non-compliance.
Can a CSC 1st conviction ever be expunged?
No. Criminal sexual conduct convictions are excluded from Michigan’s set-aside statute.
What if the allegation is decades old?
It can still be charged — there is no limitations period for CSC 1st. Age itself becomes part of the defence, because memory, records and witnesses all degrade.
Related Pages
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If you are under investigation or have been charged, the decisions you make in the first days matter more than almost anything that happens later. Do not speak to police, do not contact the complainant, and do not delete anything. Call me at 616-438-6719 — the consultation is free and I answer 24/7, across Kent, Ottawa, Allegan, Barry, Ionia, Muskegon, Newaygo and Van Buren counties.