(a) Rape is unlawful sexual penetration of a victim by the defendant or of the defendant by a victim accompanied by any of the following circumstances:

Attorney's Note

Under the Tennessee Code, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:
ClassPrisonFine
class B felony8 to 30 yearsup to $25,000
For details, see Tenn. Code § 40-35-111
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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 39-13-503

  • Coercion: means a threat, however communicated, to:
    (A) Commit any offense. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Defendant: means a person accused of an offense under this title and includes any person who aids or abets the commission of such offense. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
  • Force: means compulsion by the use of physical power or violence and shall be broadly construed to accomplish the purposes of this title. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
(1) Force or coercion is used to accomplish the act;
(2) The sexual penetration is accomplished without the consent of the victim and the defendant knows or has reason to know at the time of the penetration that the victim did not consent;
(3) The defendant knows or has reason to know that the victim is:

(A) Mentally defective;
(B) Mentally incapacitated;
(C) Physically helpless; or
(D) A vulnerable adult, as defined in § 39-15-501, with an intellectual disability; or
(4) The sexual penetration is accomplished by fraud.
(b) Rape is a Class B felony.