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Legal Information: North Dakota

Statutes: North Dakota

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Updated: 
December 28, 2023

12.1-20-07. Sexual assault

1. A person who knowingly has sexual contact with another person, or who causes another person to have sexual contact with that person, is guilty of an offense if:
a. That person knows or has reasonable cause to believe that the contact is offensive to the other person;
b. That person knows or has reasonable cause to believe that the other person suffers from a mental disease or defect which renders that other person incapable of understanding the nature of that other person’s conduct;
c. That person or someone with that person’s knowledge has substantially impaired the victim’s power to appraise or control the victim’s conduct, by administering or employing without the victim’s knowledge intoxicants, a controlled substance as defined in chapter 19-03.1, or other means for the purpose of preventing resistance;
d. The other person is in official custody or detained in a hospital, prison, or other institution and the actor has supervisory or disciplinary authority over that other person;
e. The other person is a minor, fifteen years of age or older, and the actor is the other person’s parent, guardian, or is otherwise responsible for general supervision of the other person’s welfare; or
f. The other person is a minor, fifteen years of age or older, and the actor is an adult.
2. The offense is :
a. A class C felony if the actor’s conduct violates subdivision b, c, d, or e of subsection 1, or subdivision f of subsection 1 if the adult is at least twenty-two years of age; or
b. A class A misdemeanor if the actor’s conduct violates subdivision f of subsection 1 if the adult is at least eighteen years of age and not twenty-two years of age or older, or if the actor’s conduct violates subdivision a of subsection 1.