Digital Penetration

Digital penetration is a sexual act that involves penetrating the vagina or the anus with one or more fingers. If a person digitally penetrates another person without that person’s consent, that would have committed the crime of aggravated sexual abuse. As a result, the defendant would face a potentially extended prison sentence as well as sex offender registration. If you are accused of a sex crime based on digital penetration, immediately contact a New York digital penetration lawyer at the Law Offices of Stephen Bilkis & Associates. It is important to have experienced representation on your side to help ensure that your legal rights are protected.

The crime of aggravated sexual abuse occurs when a person causes something other than their penis to penetrate the vagina, anus, urethra, penis, or rectum of another person without that person’s consent. For example, a person can be charged with aggravated sexual abuse based on digital penetration.

As a New York digital penetration lawyer will explain, if the defendant digitally penetrated another person without their consent, the possible charges include aggravated sexual abuse in the fourth degree or second degree. To be charged with aggravated sexual abuse in the third degree of first degree, the defendant would have had to have penetrated the victim with an “object” such as a stick, knife, or a bottle.

A defendant would be guilty of aggravated sexual abuse in the fourth degree based on digital penetration if they physically injure another person by inserting a finger into that person's vagina, urethra, penis, rectum, or anus of that person, and that person is incapable of consenting because they are less than 17 years old.

Because aggravated sexual abuse in the fourth degree is a Class E felony, if convicted, the defendant could be sentenced to up to 4 years in prison and would have to register as a sex offender. N.Y. Pen. Law § 130.65-a.

In the case of digital penetration, the charge would be second degree aggravated sexual abuse if the defendant physically injures another person by inserting their finger into the other person's vagina, urethra, penis, rectum, or anus of that person, and it is done:

• Due to threats or due to physical force,
• When the other person is unconscious or in some other way physically helpless, or
• When the other person is less than 11 years old

Note that if the person digitally penetrated another person as described above, but did so for a valid medical reason, the person would not have committed a crime.

Aggravated sexual abuse in the second degree is a Class C felony. N.Y. Pen. Law § 130.67. If convicted, the defendant could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison and would have to register as a sex offender.

As a digital penetration attorney in New York will explain, under the New York Penal Code, while aggravated sexual abuse and rape area both felony sex crimes that involve penetration, the two crimes have notable differences. Each of the 4 rape crimes requires sexual intercourse. The New York Penal Code gives “sexual intercourse” its “ordinary meaning” which is penetration, however slight, of a vagina by a penis. Digital penetration and penetration by an object are not included in the definition. Thus, where penetration is digital, the charge would not be rape, but aggravated sexual abuse.

However, both aggravated rape in the fourth degree and aggravated rape in the second degree are felonies just like each of the rape charges in New York. Based on the degree of the charge, the crimes carry the same sentencing, including the requirement of prison and sex offender registration.

If you have been accused of a sex crime, you face a potentially long prison sentence as well as being a registered sex offender for years. It is critical that you are represented by an experienced digital penetration attorney serving New York. The staff at the Law Offices of Stephen Bilkis & Associates decades of successfully defending clients in New York accused of serious crimes. Contact us at 1-800-NY-NY-LAW (1-800-696-9529) to schedule a free, no obligation consultation regarding your case. We represent clients in the following locations: Queens, Bronx, Manhattan, Suffolk County, Westchester County, Staten Island, Nassau County, Brooklyn, and Long Island.