On Saturday (July 1, 2023), bills that define consent and made sex without consent a felony (SB 90 and SB 91) go into effect in South Dakota.
As defined, consent is a person’s positive cooperation in act or attitude pursuant to the person’s exercise of free will. South Dakota was one of 25 states with no definition of consent in their state laws prior to the passage of these bills.
State Senator Tim Reed of Brookings was a prime sponsor. He says before these bills, if a victim said no or stop to a sexual encounter, it would not be considered rape. He said there had to be use of force or coercion for it to be considered rape. These laws change that.
Krista Heeren-Graber is the Executive Director of the SD Network Against Family Violence and Sexual Assault. She says consent is not something you ‘get’; it is an on-going conversation with another person about what you like or do not like, what you want or do not want.
Heeren-Graber adds, “Consent is respectfully discussed prior to and during sexual activity and can be changed or revoked at any time. Silence, the lack of an explicit ‘no’, or consent to other prior activities does not equal consent. Consent cannot be negotiated if ‘no’ is not a viable option, meaning if someone is coerced, manipulated, afraid to say ‘no,’ or otherwise forced into saying ‘yes’, that is not consensual.”
Dan Nelson, president of the South Dakota State’s Attorney Association, says defining consent was critical to their pursuit of justice because before this law juries in sexual assault trials were left to speculate on the definition of consent. He says lawyers, judges and juries in criminal sexual assault trials will now have clear guidance on what consent means and we believe that clarity significantly improves the justice system.
Comments