Rhode Island General Laws 11-37-2. First degree sexual assault
A person is guilty of first degree sexual assault if he or she engages in sexual penetration with another person, and if any of the following circumstances exist:
(1) The accused knows or has reason to know that the victim is mentally incapacitated, mentally disabled, or physically helpless.
(2) The accused uses force or coercion.
(3) The accused, through concealment or by the element of surprise, is able to overcome the victim.
(4) The accused engages in the medical treatment or examination of the victim for the purpose of sexual arousal, gratification, or stimulation.
History of Section.
P.L. 1979, ch. 302, § 2; P.L. 1980, ch. 273, § 1; P.L. 1981, ch. 119, § 1; P.L. 1984, ch. 59, § 1; P.L. 1984, ch. 355, § 1; P.L. 1986, ch. 191, § 1; P.L. 1987, ch. 238, § 1; P.L. 2021, ch. 75, § 1, effective June 23, 2021; P.L. 2021, ch. 76, § 1, effective June 23, 2021.
Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 11-37-2
- Accused: means a person accused of a sexual assault. See Rhode Island General Laws 11-37-1
- Force or coercion: means when the accused does any of the following:
(i) Uses or threatens to use a weapon, or any article used or fashioned in a manner to lead the victim to reasonably believe it to be a weapon. See Rhode Island General Laws 11-37-1
- Mentally disabled: means a person who has a mental impairment which renders that person incapable of appraising the nature of the act. See Rhode Island General Laws 11-37-1
- Mentally incapacitated: means a person who is rendered temporarily incapable of appraising or controlling his or her conduct due to the influence of a narcotic, anesthetic, or other substance administered to that person without his or her consent, or who is mentally unable to communicate unwillingness to engage in the act. See Rhode Island General Laws 11-37-1
- person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
- Physically helpless: means a person who is unconscious, asleep, or for any other reason is physically unable to communicate unwillingness to an act. See Rhode Island General Laws 11-37-1
- Sexual penetration: means sexual intercourse, cunnilingus, fellatio, and anal intercourse, or any other intrusion, however slight, by any part of a person's body or by any object into the genital or anal openings of another person's body, or the victim's own body upon the accused's instruction, but emission of semen is not required. See Rhode Island General Laws 11-37-1
- Victim: means the person alleging to have been subjected to sexual assault. See Rhode Island General Laws 11-37-1