New York expands the legal definition of rape to include many forms of nonconsensual sexual contact

By MAYSOON KHAN
Associated Press/Report for America

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York will expand its legal definition of rape to include various forms of nonconsensual sexual contact, under a bill signed into law by Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul. Hochul signed the bill on Tuesday. The law will apply to sexual assaults committed on or after Sept. 1. Acting under the old law, the jury in the federal civil trial of E. Jean Carroll rejected the writer’s claim last May that Donald Trump had raped her in the 1990s. Instead, jurors found the former president responsible for a lesser degree of sexual abuse. The Democratic governor says the new law will make it easier for rape victims to bring cases to prosecute perpetrators.