Texas Criminal Laws

 

While Texas Tech University uses different standards and definitions than the Texas Criminal Code, Sexual Misconduct often overlaps with the crimes of sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, or stalking. Victims of these crimes are protected by federal laws, specifically Title IX and the Clery Act, which mandates the contents of this report. If a person would like to file criminal charges for an alleged violation of any of the below criminal laws, or seek an order of protection, the definitions contained in the Texas Penal Code and Texas Family Code would apply, not the internal definitions used in this policy.

Texas Penal Code and Texas Family Code

Title 5, Chapter 22, Sec. 22.011. SEXUAL ASSAULT

A person commits an offense of sexual assault if:

1. The person intentionally or knowingly:
   1. Causes the penetration of the anus or sexual organ, or mouth of another person by any means, without that person's Consent
   2. Causes the penetration of the mouth of another person by the sexual organ of the actor, without the person’s Consent
   3. Causes the sexual organ of another person, without that person’s consent, to contact or penetrate the mouth, anus, or sexual organ of another person, including the actor
2. Regardless of whether the person knows the age of the child at the time of the offense, the person intentionally or knowingly:
   1. Causes the penetration of the anus or sexual organ, or the mouth of a child (under 17) by any means
   2. Causes the penetration of the mouth of a child by the sexual organ of the actor
   3. Causes the sexual organ of a child to contact or penetrate the mouth, anus, or sexual organ of another person, including the actor
   4. Causes the anus of a child to contact the mouth, anus, or sexual organ of another person, including the actor 
   5. Causes the mouth of a child to contact the anus or sexual organ of another person, including the actor

A sexual assault is without the Consent of the other person if:

1. The actor compels the other person to submit or participate by the use of physical force, violence, or coercion
2. The actor compels the other person to submit or participate by threatening to use force or violence against the other person or to cause harm to the other person, and the other person believes that the actor has the present ability to execute the threat
3. The other person has not consented, and the actor knows the other person is unconscious or physically unable to resist
4. The actor knows that as a result of mental disease or defect the other person is at the time of the sexual assault incapable either of appraising the nature of the act or of resisting it 
5. The other person has not consented and the actor knows the other person is unaware that the sexual assault is occurring
6. The actor knows that the other person is intoxicated or impaired by any substance to the extent that the other person is incapable of consenting
7. The actor compels the other person to submit or participate by threatening to use force or violence against any person, and the other person believes that the actor has the ability to execute the threat
8. The actor is a public servant who coerces the other person to submit or participate
9. The actor is a mental health services provider or a health care services provider who causes the other person, who is a patient or former patient of the actor, to submit or participate by exploiting the other person's emotional dependency on the actor
10. The actor is a clergyman who causes the other person to submit or participate by exploiting the other person's emotional dependency on the clergyman in the clergyman's professional character as spiritual adviser
11. The actor is an employee of a facility where the other person is a resident, unless the employee and resident are formally or informally married to each other under Chapter 2, Family Code
12. The actor is a health care services provider who, in the course of performing an assisted reproduction procedure on the other person, uses human reproductive material from a donor knowing that the other person has not expressly consented to the use of material from that donor
13. The actor is a coach or tutor who causes the other person to submit or participate by using the actor's power or influence to exploit the other person's dependency on the actor or
14. The actor is a caregiver hired to assist the other person with activities of daily life and causes the other person to submit or participate by exploiting the other person's dependency on the actor.

Title 4, Chapter 71, Title 4, Sec 71.004 DOMESTIC (FAMILY) VIOLENCE

A person commits an offense if the act by a member of a family or household is against another member of the family or household that

1. Is intended to result in physical harm, bodily injury, assault, or sexual assault
2. Is a threat that reasonably places the member in fear of imminent physical harm, bodily injury, assault, or sexual assault
3. Does not include defensive measures to protect oneself, or abuse by a member of a family or household toward a child of the family or household or dating violence

Title 4, Chapter 71, Title 4, Sec 71.0021 DATING VIOLENCE

"Dating violence" means an act, other than a defensive measure to protect oneself, by an actor that:

1.  Is committed against a victim or applicant for a protective order:
   1. With whom the actor has or has had a dating relationship; or
   2. Because of the victim's or applicant's marriage to or dating relationship with an individual with whom the actor is or has been in a dating relationship or marriage; and
2. Is intended to result in physical harm, bodily injury, assault, or sexual assault or that is a threat that reasonably places the victim or applicant in fear of imminent physical harm, bodily injury, assault, or sexual assault.

For purposes of this title, "dating relationship" means a relationship between individuals who have or have had a continuing relationship of a romantic or intimate nature.  The existence of such a relationship shall be determined based on consideration of:

1. The length of the relationship;
2. The nature of the relationship;  and
3. The frequency and type of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship.

A casual acquaintanceship or ordinary fraternization in a business or social context does not constitute a "dating relationship" under Subsection (b).

Title 9, Chapter 42, Sec. 42.072. STALKING

A person commits an offense if the person, on more than one occasion and pursuant to the same scheme or course of conduct that is directed specifically at another person, knowingly engages in conduct that:

1. Constitutes an offense under this section, or that the actor knows or reasonably should know the other person will regard as threatening:
   1. Bodily injury or death for the other person
   2. Bodily injury or death for a member of the other person's family or household
   3. That an offense will be committed against the other person's property
   4. Causes the other person to be placed in fear of bodily injury or death
   5. Would cause a reasonable person to:
      1. Fear bodily injury or death for himself or herself
      2. Fear bodily injury or death for a member of the person's family or household or for an individual with whom the person has a dating relationship
      3. Fear that an offense will be committed against the person's property
      4. Feel harassed, annoyed, alarmed, abused, tormented, embarrassed, or offended

Chapter 1, Title 1, Sec 1.07(11) CONSENT

Consent is defined as assent in fact, whether expressed or apparent.