Date Rape, Alcohol as the Drug

I am often asked by young men, especially high school age young men, what is the definition of rape in Tennessee. We all understand the horrific nature of the crime, however what some people do not realize is that many rapes in Tennessee are not by strangers. Many allegations of rape hinge on quite literally he said she said, and the parties know each other.

So in Tennessee what is rape? It is the unlawful sexual penetration of a victim by the defendant or of the defendant by a victim accompanied by any of the following circumstances:

Force or coercion is used to accomplish the act;

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;

The defendant knows or has reason to know that the victim is mentally defective, mentally incapacitated, or physically helpless;

Sexual penetration is accomplished by fraud.

That is the legal definition. The question posed to me quite often is what if someone is drunk? The answer lies in the details of was the person mentally incapacitated at the time of the penetration, (penetration does not have to be with a body organ, it can be with an object).

Lets say a young couple of high school age has been drinking together, they start drinking around 8 pm, each of the individuals has about 5 beers over the course of the night. They are parked at the end of a road. The couple has never engaged in a sexual act before this night, the young man thinks it is ok to kiss on the young woman, but then thinks it is ok to proceed further by engaging in a sexual act with the young lady, while she is intoxicated. If later the next day the young lady states that she did not consent to the sexual act there can be a charge of rape filed in Tennessee. It is a matter of perspective as to whether or not she consented to the sexual act. It is here we find the he said she said problem. This situation is often referred to as Date Rape by the media.

My advice to young people is to simply avoid this situation, if you do not know whether or not she is consenting then avoid the situation all together.