The Third Circuit has determined that a New Jersey conviction for criminal sexual contact is a sexual abuse of a minor aggravated felony. The court determined that the federal generic offense of sexual abuse of a minor under the INA contains no scienter requirement as to the victim’s age. “As a result, the federal generic offense of sexual abuse of a minor requires proof that the defendant (1) knowingly engaged in an act that constitutes criminal sexual contact; and (2) engaged in such an act with a person who is of the age the statute covers, without the need for the government to prove that the defendant knew or reasonably should have known the person’s age.”
Turning to the statute of conviction, the court determined that it was divisible between the various subsections of the statute. The petitioner was convicted of the subsection requiring that “[t]he victim is at least 13 but less than 16 years old and the actor is at least four years older than the victim.” “Thus, because a knowing criminal sexual act involving a victim of a particular age, whose age may not be known to the perpetrator, is an element of both the federal generic offense and the New Jersey criminal sexual contact offense, the two are a categorical match.”
The full text of Grijalva Martinez v. Attorney General can be found here: