Crime against nature

The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page.

This article is about types of sex act. For other meanings see Crime against nature (disambiguation).

Crime against nature is a legal term used in published cases in the United States since 1814^[1] and normally defined as a form of sexual behavior that is not considered natural and is seen as a punishable offense in several U.S. states. In the broadest sense, a crime against nature could even include masturbation and unusual sexual positions, but these are not seen as such. Sexual practices that have historically been considered to be crimes against nature include anal sex, bestiality, homosexual acts, fellatio, cunnilingus and necrophilia. The term is sometimes also seen as a synonym for sodomy or buggery.^[2]

Current use

Currently, the term crime against nature is still used in the statutes of the following American states. However, these laws were found to be unconstitutional in Lawrence v. Texas (2003).

• Idaho (I.C. § 18-6605)
• Louisiana (R.S. 14:89)
• Massachusetts (MGL Ch. 272, § 34, struck down by Mass. court in 1977)
• Michigan (MCL § 750.158)
• Mississippi (Miss. Code § 97-29-59)
• North Carolina (G.S. § 14-177)
• Oklahoma (Okla. Stat. § 21-886, struck down as to straights by Okla. court in 1986)
• Virginia (Va. Code § 18.2-361)

Louisiana

As an example, Louisiana Revised Statutes (R.S.) 14:89 provides:

A. Crime against nature is:

(1) The unnatural carnal copulation by a human being with another of the same sex or opposite sex or with an animal, except that anal sexual intercourse between two human beings shall not be deemed as a crime against nature when done under any of the circumstances described in R.S. 14:41, 14:42, 14:42.1 or 14:43. Emission is not necessary; and, when committed by a human being with another, the use of the genital organ of one of the offenders of whatever sex is sufficient to constitute the crime.

(2) The solicitation by a human being of another with the intent to engage in any unnatural carnal copulation for compensation.

B. Whoever violates the provisions of this Section shall be fined not more than two thousand dollars, or imprisoned, with or without hard labor, for not more than five years, or both.

Louisiana's legislature enacted its crime against nature law in 1805 and revised it 1807, 1896, 1942, 1975, and again 1982. ^[3] The 1942 act took the present definition from § 50 of the 1937 proposed Illinois Penal Code since it was more explicit than the former Louisiana statute. In its present form, R.S. 14:89 is part of title 14 of Louisiana' criminal code and categorized in section 89 as offenses affecting the public sexual immorality.

On April 28, 2005 the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal of Louisiana ruled unconstitutional the parts of the statute that criminalize adult consensual anal and oral sex. ^[4]

Repeal and unconstitutionality

Except for the above eight states, all other states in the United States have repealed their crimes against nature laws. Furthermore, in 2003, in Lawrence v. Texas, the US Supreme Court held that consensual sex between adults in private was protected by the Constitution and could not be criminalised under "crimes against nature" laws. Thus, fellatio, cunnilingus and homosexual sex can no longer fall within the scope of such laws.

Similar laws

Section 377A of the Singapore Penal Code also prohibits any form of male to male sexual conduct.

Article 377 of the Indian Penal Code (since 1860) calls for a maximum punishment, being life imprisonment, for all sexual acts against human nature.

See also

• Criminal law
• Human sexual behavior
• Sodomy, Buggery

References

External links

• Everything2.com page on crime against nature
• NCGala.org page on crime against nature
• Idaho's crime against nature law