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Legal Information: Delaware

Statutes: Delaware

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Updated: 
September 13, 2023

§ 772. Rape in the second degree; class B felony

(a) A person is guilty of rape in the second degree when the person:

(1) Intentionally engages in sexual intercourse with another person, and the intercourse occurs without the victim’s consent; or

(2) Intentionally engages in sexual penetration with another person under any of the following circumstances:

a. The sexual penetration occurs without the victim’s consent and during the commission of the crime, or during the immediate flight following the commission of the crime, or during an attempt to prevent the reporting of the crime, the person causes serious physical injury to the victim; or

b. The sexual penetration occurs without the victim’s consent, and was facilitated by or occurred during the course of the commission or attempted commission of:

1. Any felony; or

2. Any of the following misdemeanors: reckless endangering in the second degree; assault in the third degree; terroristic threatening; unlawfully administering drugs; unlawful imprisonment in the second degree; coercion or criminal trespass in the first, second or third degree; or

c. The victim has not yet reached that victim’s sixteenth birthday and during the commission of the crime, or during the immediate flight from the crime, or during an attempt to prevent the reporting of the crime, the person causes serious physical injury to the victim; or

d. The sexual penetration occurs without the victim’s consent and during the commission of the crime, or during the immediate flight from the crime, or during an attempt to prevent the reporting of the crime, the person displays what appears to be a deadly weapon or represents by word or conduct that the person is in possession or control of a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument; or

e. The victim has not yet reached that victim’s sixteenth birthday and during the commission of the crime, or during the immediate flight from the crime, or during an attempt to prevent the reporting of the crime, the person displays what appears to be a deadly weapon or represents by word or conduct that the person is in possession or control of a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument; or

f. The sexual penetration occurs without the victim’s consent, and a principal-accomplice relationship within the meaning set forth in § 271 of this title existed between the defendant and another person or persons with respect to the commission of the crime; or

g. The victim has not yet reached that victim’s twelfth birthday, and the defendant has reached that defendant’s eighteenth birthday.

(b) Nothing in this section shall preclude a separate charge, conviction and sentence for any other crime set forth in this title, or in the Delaware Code.

(c) Notwithstanding any provision of this title to the contrary, the minimum sentence for a person convicted of rape in the second degree in violation of this section shall be 10 years at Level V.

Rape in the second degree is a class B felony.