Certain sexual assaults against a spouse will now be criminalized in West Virginia for the first time under a law signed by Republican Gov. Jim Justice. The law, signed Friday, removes marriage as a defense to first- and third-degree sexual assault. Until 1976, a married person couldn’t be charged with penetrative rape of their spouse.
FILE - West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice speaks during an announcement at The Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., April 27, 2023. Certain sexual assaults against a spouse will now be criminalized in West Virginia for the first time under a law signed Friday, March 22, 2024, by Justice. CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Certain sexual assaults against a spouse will now be criminalized in West Virginia for the first time under a law signed Friday by Republican Gov. Jim Justice.
The bill’s sponsor, GOP Sen. Ryan Weld of Brooke County, said there are two crimes of sexual violence outlined in state code: penetrative rape, and secondly, the forcible touching of a person’s sexual organs, breasts, buttocks or anus by another person. For the latter offense, a martial exemption long shielded a person from conviction if the crime was perpetrated against their spouse. Even if the couple is legally separated, an individual accused of such sexual abuse couldn’t be charged. That will change now that Justice has signed the legislation.
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