SEXUAL OFFENSE CHARGES
Harper Lee’s 1960 Pulitzer Prize winning novel To Killl a Mockingbird dealt with a false accusation of rape. The movie version accrued 8 Academy Award nominations and won Best Actor for Gregory Peck.
According to the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts, there are about 5,000 sex charges filed each year in Tennessee.
In Nashville there are about 500 sexual offense charges each year. About half (262 in 2021) of these charges are dismissed. Twelve are convicted after trial. Another 11 receive pretrial or judicial diversion.
Twenty-three cases were pled down to lesser charges.
| Acquittal | Conviction Trial | Dismissal/Nolle Prosequi | Guilty Plea As Charged | Guilty Plea Lesser Charge | Other | Pretrial/ Judicial Diversion | Retired/ Unserved | Total |
| 0 | 12 | 262 | 63 | 23 | 103 | 11 | 2 | 476 |
Aggravated rape is a Class A Felony. Conviction means 25 years of lockup not to mention registering as a sex offender. On the lesser end, even misdemeanor attempted sexual battery requires registering as a sex offender.
SEXUAL BATTERY
Sexual battery is unlawful sexual contact accompanied by coercion without consent if the defendant knows that the victim is mentally defective, mentally incapacitated or physically helpless. Sexual battery is an E Felony. Read the statute.
“Sexual contact” includes the intentional touching of intimate parts, or the clothing covering intimate parts for the purpose of sexual arousal or gratification. Read the statutory definitions.
AGGRAVATED SEXUAL BATTERY
Aggravated sexual battery is sexual battery when the bad actor is armed with a weapon or causes bodily injury or the victim is less than 13 years old. Aggravated sexual battery is a Class B felony. Read the statute.
RAPE
Rape is unlawful sexual penetration without consent. Certain people cannot give consent such as the mentally defective or incapacitated, someone with an intellectual disability.
“Sexual penetration” means sexual intercourse, cunnilingus, fellatio, anal intercourse, or any other intrusion, however slight, of any part of a person’s body or of any object into the genital or anal openings of the victim’s. Rape is a Class B felony. Read the statute,
AGGRAVATED RAPE
Aggravated rape is sexual penetration of a victim by the defendant or the defendant by a victim when Force or coercion is used to accomplish the act and the defendant is armed with a weapon or any article used or fashioned in a manner to lead the victim reasonably to believe it to be a weapon; or The defendant causes bodily injury to the victim; or the defendant is aided or abetted by one (1) or more other persons; and force or coercion is use a to accomplish the act; or the defendant knows or has reason to know that the victim is Mentally defective, Mentally incapacitated, Physically helpless; or a vulnerable adult, as defined in § 39-15-501, with an intellectual disability. Aggravated rape is a Class A felony. Read the statute TCA 39-13-502.
MITIGATED STATUTORY RAPE
Mitigated statutory rape is the unlawful sexual penetration of a victim by the defendant, or of the defendant by the victim when the victim is at least fifteen (15) but less than eighteen (18) years of age and the defendant is at least four (4) but not more than five (5) years older than the victim. Mitigated statutory rape is a Class E felony. Read the statute.
STATUTORY RAPE
Statutory rape is the unlawful sexual penetration of a victim by the defendant or of the defendant by the victim when: (1) The victim is at least thirteen (13) but less than fifteen (15) years of age and the defendant is at least four (4) years but less than ten (10) years older than the victim; or (2) The victim is at least fifteen (15) but less than eighteen (18) years of age and the defendant is more than five (5) but less than ten (10) years older than the victim. Statutory rape is a Class E felony and in addition, the judge may order the defendant to enroll on the Sex Offender Registry.
AGGRAVATED STATUTORY RAPE
Aggravated statutory rape is the unlawful sexual penetration of a victim by the defendant, or of the defendant by the victim when the victim is at least thirteen (13) but less than eighteen (18) years of age and the defendant is at least ten (10) years older than the victim. Aggravated statutory rape is a Class D felony.
SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY
Most sex offense convictions require registering as a sex offender. Tenn. Code Ann. 40-39-211 imposes restrictions on where a sex offender can live and work. Read the statute.
REMOVAL FROM SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY
In certain circumstances, offenders can be removed from the registry 10 years after the service of their whole sentence.