Sexual Assault on College Campuses: A 50-State Survey of Criminal Sexual Assault Statutes and Their Relevance to Campus Sexual Assault

DeMatteoEtAl.2015-1

Miranda Guardiola

This article evaluates all 50 states’ laws regarding sexual assault on college campus to see if these existing laws are adequate in protecting, and accessible to those who has experienced sexual assault while on college campuses. The study concluded that each state had at least one criminal law that addressed sexual assault. Unfortunately, important concepts like “consent” and “incapacity” had no uniform definition, and were often ill defined. Therefore, many of these laws were found to be inappropriate and inadequate to handle sexual assault cases. this study illuminates that there is a real and dire need for all states to reevaluate their legislation regarding sexual assault. This particularly applies to the need for college campuses to revisit and amend existing legislation so that these institutions can more adequately protect and prevent campus sexual assault.