Also known as: unnatural offences · unnatural sexual offense · sodomy · carnal intercourse against the order of nature
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A common-law felony consisting of sodomy or other unnatural sexual acts between persons.
Campus police entered Unity Underhill's locked dormitory room after a noise complaint and found her engaged in private consensual same-sex conduct with another adult. Prosecutors charged both under a state statute labeling the acts an unnatural offense. The court dismissed the charges because the state identified no legitimate objective beyond moral disapproval of the private adult conduct.
Uriel Urban and another adult were arrested in a locked hotel room after housekeeping reported evidence of same-sex intimacy. The state prosecuted the conduct as an unnatural offense under a morals statute. The court sustained the charges on the ground that the state possessed authority to criminalize the acts.
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Uri Underwood was indicted after federal agents seized materials depicting conduct the government labeled an unnatural offense. The prosecution relied on statutes regulating obscenity and related acts. The court evaluated whether the materials met the constitutional standard for criminal liability.
Ursula Ureña received a mandatory life sentence after conviction for an unnatural offense involving a minor. She argued the punishment violated the Eighth Amendment. The court examined whether the sentence was grossly disproportionate to the crime.
Uma Underwood's trial counsel had previously represented the complainant in an unrelated matter involving an unnatural offense allegation. She sought habeas relief claiming ineffective assistance. The court assessed whether an actual conflict adversely affected counsel's performance.
Urban Utley was sentenced to death after conviction for an unnatural offense against a child. He challenged the sentence as cruel and unusual. The court considered whether the Eighth Amendment permits capital punishment for the offense when the victim survives.
The common law classified sodomy and certain other sexual acts as felonies known as unnatural offenses or crimes against nature.
No. Such a statute lacks any legitimate state interest and fails rational basis review when it rests solely on moral disapproval.
Lawrence holds that the Due Process Clause protects private consensual noncommercial sexual intimacy between adults, so statutes labeling such conduct an unnatural offense are unconstitutional.
No. Moral disapproval standing alone supplies no legitimate governmental objective under rational basis review.
…the right to privacy in Lawrence v. Texas , 539 U.S. 558 (2003), which struck down a Texas statute criminalizing homosexual sodomy. Lawrence relied on the position that criminal sodomy laws, like bans on contraceptives, invaded privacy by inviting “unwarranted government intrusions” that “touc[h] upon the most…