criminal-law sexual-assault
Are &quot;Dry humping&quot; and &quot;Molesting&quot; the same thing?
<p>My friend's ex-boyfriend got sentenced to four years in prison for &quot;molesting&quot; his girlfriend who is my friend and his ex-girlfriend only they were together when he &quot;dry humped&quot; her. I don't quite understand it because it's not that I don't believe her I just don't see how any harm was done. She said he was fully clothed and she was fully clothed and he humped her but she said stop and he held her down. But if they are clothed then his penis can't penetrate her. But he claimed she was lying about it after she reported it to the police and went to court and the jury ruled in her favor and the judge sentenced him to four years charge being molestation but how is &quot;dry humping&quot; her molesting her? And this was in Birmingham Alabama.</p>

<p>How is holding her down and dry-humping her <em>not</em> molesting her?  </p>

<p>"Molesting" doesn't imply that any penetration or rape took place - it's a much broader term covering pretty much any sort of unwanted sexual contact (although more often, but not exclusively, used when a minor is involved).  </p>

<p>The definition for <a href="http://dictionary.law.com/Default.aspx?selected=1274" rel="noreferrer">Molestation</a> in Legal Dictionary at law.com ends with:  </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>any unwanted sexual acts with adults short of rape  </p>
</blockquote>

<p>and holding someone down (unwanted) and dry-humping them (sexual act) seems to fit this.</p>

<p>This seems less like a legal question than a common-sense question. </p>

<p>What would you call it if a guy pinned you down and started humping you to get off? Would you really say there was no harm done?</p>

<p>Wake up. </p>

<p>Here are 2 links to some crime info about molestation and sexual assault in Alabama <a href="https://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/alabama-statutes-of-limitations-for-sexual-abuse.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/alabama-statutes-of-limitations-for-sexual-abuse.html</a> and <a href="https://www.sexcrimesdefensealabama.com/child-molestation.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.sexcrimesdefensealabama.com/child-molestation.html</a> but one is about child molestation I don't know how old she was so I don't know if that law applies to this situation but rather it is called molestation or just sexual assault it is still a crime and they were right to convict him.</p>
