{"id":5757,"date":"2021-06-03T11:13:04","date_gmt":"2021-06-03T15:13:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/senatedems.com\/irwin\/?p=5757"},"modified":"2021-06-03T11:13:04","modified_gmt":"2021-06-03T15:13:04","slug":"irwin-introduces-bill-to-prosecute-sexual-assaults-facilitated-by-drugs-alcohol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/irwin\/2021\/06\/03\/irwin-introduces-bill-to-prosecute-sexual-assaults-facilitated-by-drugs-alcohol\/","title":{"rendered":"Irwin Introduces Bill to Prosecute Sexual Assaults Facilitated by Drugs, Alcohol"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>LANSING, Mich. (June 3, 2021) \u2014 Sen.&nbsp;<strong>Jeff Irwin<\/strong>&nbsp;(D-Ann Arbor) introduced a bill that would change the definition of \u201cmental incapacitation\u201d as it pertains to sexual assault and rape in the Michigan Penal Code, and make it absolutely clear that it is illegal to sexually assault anyone that is unable to consent because they are under the influence of drugs or alcohol.<br \/><br \/>Under current Michigan law, only individuals who were unwittingly or forcibly given drugs or alcohol prior to being sexually assaulted or raped are considered mentally incapacitated, and therefore unable to consent to sexual activity. If an individual uses drugs or alcohol, due to their own volition, and is later sexually assaulted or raped, they are not considered mentally incapacitated under Michigan law. It is possible that assailants would be prosecuted under current law, but the narrow definition of mental incapacitation complicates the prosecution.<br \/><br \/>\u201cMichigan should close this loophole that allows some perpetrators of sexual assault to walk away simply because the law is unclear regarding people under the influence of drugs or alcohol,\u201d Sen. Irwin said. \u201cWe need to make it crystal clear that consent is absolutely required and that somebody who is drunk cannot consent. No one ever deserves to be sexually assaulted, nor is engaging in alcohol or drug use ever an invitation for unwanted sexual activity.\u201d<br \/><br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/legislature.mi.gov\/doc.aspx?2021-SB-0497\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Senate Bill 497<\/a>&nbsp;would change the definition of mentally incapacitated such that anyone who is under the influence of a mind-altering substance, to the extent that they can no longer knowingly consent to sexual activity, is considered mentally incapacitated whether that substance was used voluntarily or not. This would include situations where the victim is unconscious, experiencing a so-called \u201cblackout,\u201d or otherwise rendered incapable of appraising or controlling their conduct due to the use of said substance. Changing this law is crucial in enabling those who are sexually assaulted or raped while under the influence of drugs or alcohol to seek justice.<br \/><br \/>Michigan is, unfortunately, not alone in this issue. As of 2016, intoxication provisions in 40 states did not include situations in which someone chose to consume drugs or alcohol, according to the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/law2.wlu.edu\/faculty\/facultydocuments\/buchhandler\/The%20Conundrum%20of%20Voluntary%20Intoxication%20and%20Sex%20Final%20Version%20July%202017%20.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Brooklyn Law Review<\/a>. Additional attention has recently been brought to this issue following a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/national-security\/2021\/03\/26\/minnesota-rape-alcohol\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Minnesota Supreme Court Case<\/a>&nbsp;in March of this year, in which the court unanimously found that the defendant could not be found guilty of felony rape, despite overwhelming evidence, because the alleged victim got voluntarily drunk beforehand. This case hedged on Minnesota\u2019s definition of \u201cmentally incapacitated,\u201d which is similar to Michigan\u2019s current law and is a clear demonstration that our current mental incapacitation laws imperil the opportunity for survivors to see justice.<br \/><br \/>Nearly&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/mn.gov\/law-library-stat\/archive\/supct\/2021\/OPA191281-032421.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">10 million U.S. women<\/a>&nbsp;have been raped while intoxicated \u2014 most of whom became drunk by choice. Oftentimes, offenders purposefully seek out victims in that kind of vulnerable state. The 2011&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/mmwr\/preview\/mmwrhtml\/ss6308a1.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey<\/a>&nbsp;found that 9.3% of women and 1.1% of men have experienced alcohol- or drug-facilitated rape in their lifetime.<br \/><br \/>\u201cIt is imperative that we pass my bill and make it absolutely clear that sexually assaulting someone who is incapacitated due to drugs or alcohol is illegal,\u201d Sen. Irwin said. \u201cMy hope is that my bill will help bring justice to survivors of sexual assault by allowing perpetrators to be prosecuted for their actions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LANSING, Mich. (June 3, 2021) \u2014 Sen.&nbsp;Jeff Irwin&nbsp;(D-Ann Arbor) introduced a bill that would change the definition of \u201cmental incapacitation\u201d as it pertains to sexual assault and rape in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pr"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.4 (Yoast SEO v26.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Irwin Introduces Bill to Prosecute Sexual Assaults Facilitated by Drugs, Alcohol - Senator Jeff Irwin<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/irwin\/2021\/06\/03\/irwin-introduces-bill-to-prosecute-sexual-assaults-facilitated-by-drugs-alcohol\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Irwin Introduces Bill to Prosecute Sexual Assaults Facilitated by Drugs, Alcohol\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"LANSING, Mich. (June 3, 2021) \u2014 Sen.&nbsp;Jeff Irwin&nbsp;(D-Ann Arbor) introduced a bill that would change the definition of \u201cmental incapacitation\u201d as it pertains to sexual assault and rape in the [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/irwin\/2021\/06\/03\/irwin-introduces-bill-to-prosecute-sexual-assaults-facilitated-by-drugs-alcohol\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Senator Jeff Irwin\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-06-03T15:13:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/irwin\/2021\/06\/03\/irwin-introduces-bill-to-prosecute-sexual-assaults-facilitated-by-drugs-alcohol\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/irwin\/2021\/06\/03\/irwin-introduces-bill-to-prosecute-sexual-assaults-facilitated-by-drugs-alcohol\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Irwin Introduces Bill to Prosecute Sexual Assaults Facilitated by Drugs, Alcohol\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-03T15:13:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/irwin\/2021\/06\/03\/irwin-introduces-bill-to-prosecute-sexual-assaults-facilitated-by-drugs-alcohol\/\"},\"wordCount\":566,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Press release\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/irwin\/2021\/06\/03\/irwin-introduces-bill-to-prosecute-sexual-assaults-facilitated-by-drugs-alcohol\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/irwin\/2021\/06\/03\/irwin-introduces-bill-to-prosecute-sexual-assaults-facilitated-by-drugs-alcohol\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/irwin\/2021\/06\/03\/irwin-introduces-bill-to-prosecute-sexual-assaults-facilitated-by-drugs-alcohol\/\",\"name\":\"Irwin Introduces Bill to Prosecute Sexual Assaults Facilitated by Drugs, Alcohol - Senator Jeff Irwin\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/irwin\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-03T15:13:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/irwin\/2021\/06\/03\/irwin-introduces-bill-to-prosecute-sexual-assaults-facilitated-by-drugs-alcohol\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/irwin\/2021\/06\/03\/irwin-introduces-bill-to-prosecute-sexual-assaults-facilitated-by-drugs-alcohol\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/irwin\/2021\/06\/03\/irwin-introduces-bill-to-prosecute-sexual-assaults-facilitated-by-drugs-alcohol\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/irwin\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Irwin Introduces Bill to Prosecute Sexual Assaults Facilitated by Drugs, Alcohol\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/irwin\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/irwin\/\",\"name\":\"Senator Jeff Irwin\",\"description\":\"Michigan Senate Democrats\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/irwin\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/irwin\/author\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Irwin Introduces Bill to Prosecute Sexual Assaults Facilitated by Drugs, Alcohol - Senator Jeff Irwin","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/irwin\/2021\/06\/03\/irwin-introduces-bill-to-prosecute-sexual-assaults-facilitated-by-drugs-alcohol\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Irwin Introduces Bill to Prosecute Sexual Assaults Facilitated by Drugs, Alcohol","og_description":"LANSING, Mich. 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