Sex Crimes: Definitions and Penalties
Kentucky

• Sexual intercourse with someone who cannot consent because:
• Sexual intercourse by forcible compulsion; or
• that person is physically helpless; or
• that person is under 12 years of age.

Rape in the first degree is a Class B felony punishable by 10-20 years’ imprisonment unless the victim is under 12 years of age or receives a serious physical injury, in which case it is a Class A felony, punishable by 20-50 years’ imprisonment or life in prison), and in each case also subject to a fine in an amount not less than $1,000 and not greater than $10,000.

The following definitions are relevant to this crime:

• “Dating relationship” means a relationship between individuals who have or have had a relationship of a romantic or intimate nature. It does not include a casual acquaintanceship or ordinary fraternization in a business or social context.
• “Family member” means a spouse, including a former spouse, a grandparent, a grandchild, a parent, an adult sibling, a child, a stepchild, or any other person living in the same household as a child if the child is the alleged victim.
• “Forcible compulsion” is physical force or just a threat of force, express or implied, that makes the victim fear immediate death, physical injury to self or a third person, fear of kidnap, or fear of any offense under this Chapter. Proof of physical resistance by the victim is NOT required to meet the definition.
• “Member of an unmarried couple” means each member of an unmarried couple which allegedly has a child in common, any children of that couple, or a member of an unmarried couple who are living together or have formerly lived together.
• “Physically helpless” means the victim is either unconscious or otherwise physically unable to communicate unwillingness, including as a result of the influence of a controlled substance or legend drug.
• “Serious physical injury” means physical injury which creates a substantial risk of death, or which causes serious and prolonged disfigurement, prolonged impairment of health, prolonged loss or impairment of the function of any bodily organ, or eye damage or visual impairment. For a child twelve (12) years of age or less at the time of the injury, or for any person if the relationship between the perpetrator and the victim meets the definition of a family member or member of an unmarried couple, or a dating relationship, a serious physical injury includes but is not limited to the following:

• Bruising near the eyes, or on the head, neck, or lower back overlying the kidneys;
• Any bruising severe enough to cause underlying muscle damage as determined by elevated creatine kinase levels in the blood;
• Any bruising or soft tissue injury to the genitals that affects the ability to urinate or defecate;
• Any testicular injury sufficient to put fertility at risk;
• Any burn near the eyes or involving the mouth, airway, or esophagus;
• Any burn deep enough to leave scarring or dysfunction of the body;
• Any burn requiring hospitalization, debridement in the operating room, IV fluids, intubation, or admission to a hospital’s intensive care unit;
• Rib fracture;
• Scapula or sternum fractures;
• Any broken bone that requires surgery;
• Head injuries that result in intracranial bleeding, skull fracture, or brain injury;
• A concussion that results in the child becoming limp, unresponsive, or results in seizure activity;
• Abdominal injuries that indicate internal organ damage regardless of whether surgery is required;
• Any injury requiring surgery;
• Any injury that requires a blood transfusion; and

Any injury requiring admission to a hospital’s critical care unit.

• KY. REV. STAT. ANN. § 403.720
• KY. REV. STAT. ANN. § 456.010
• KY. REV. STAT. ANN. § 510.010
• KY. REV. STAT. ANN. § 510.040
• Sentencing, KY. REV. STAT. ANN. §§ 532.020, 534.030

Occurs when someone who is 18 years of age or older engages in sexual intercourse with someone younger than 14 years of age or has intercourse with a victim who is mentally incapacitated or who is incapable of consent because he or she is an individual with an intellectual disability.

• Rape in the second degree is a Class C felony punishable by 5-10 years’ imprisonment and a fine in an amount not less than $1,000 and not greater than $10,000.

The following definitions are relevant to this crime:

• “Individual with an intellectual disability” means a person with significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period (as defined in Ky. Rv. Stat. Chapter 202B)
• “Mentally incapacitated” means being temporarily incapable of appraising or controlling conduct because of an intoxicating substance administered without the victim’s consent or “as a result of any other act committed upon” the victim without consent.

• KY. REV. STAT. ANN. § 510.010
• KY. REV. STAT. ANN. § 510.050
• Sentencing, KY. REV. STAT. ANN. §§ 532.020, 534.030

Occurs when:

• A person is 21 years of age or older and engages in sexual intercourse with someone younger than 16 years of age;
• A person at least 10 years older than a person who is 16 or 17 years of age at the time engages in sexual intercourse with the person;
• A person is 21 years of age or older and engages in sexual intercourse with someone younger than 18 years of age for whom he or she provides a foster family home;
• A person is in a position of authority or special trust and has intercourse with a minor under the age of 18 whom that person met through the position of authority or trust;
• A person is a jailer, or an employee, contractor, vendor, or volunteer of the Department of Corrections, Department of Juvenile Justice, or a detention facility, or of an entity under contract with either department or a detention facility for the custody, supervision, evaluation, or treatment of offenders, and subjects another person the offender knows to be incarcerated, supervised, evaluated, or treated by the correctional system to sexual intercourse; or
• A peace officer, while serving in that capacity, subjects a person who the officer arrested, held in custody, or investigated for commission of a traffic or criminal offense, or knew or should have known was under arrest, held in custody, or being investigated for commission of a traffic or criminal offense, to sexual intercourse.

• Rape in the third degree is a Class D felony punishable by 1-5 years’ imprisonment and a fine in an amount not less than $1,000 and not greater than $10,000.

The following definitions are relevant to this crime:

• “Detention facility” means any building and its premises used for the confinement of a person: charged with or convicted of an offense; alleged or found to be delinquent; held for extradition or as a material witness; or otherwise confined pursuant to an order of court for law enforcement purposes.
• "Foster family home” means a private home in which children are placed for foster family care under supervision of the cabinet or a licensed child-placing agency.
• “Position of authority” means but is not limited to the position occupied by a biological parent, adoptive parent, stepparent, foster parent, relative, household member, adult youth leader, recreational staff, or volunteer who is an adult, adult athletic manager, adult coach, teacher, classified school employee, certified school employee, counselor, staff, or volunteer for either a residential treatment facility or a detention facility, staff or volunteer with a youth services organization, religious leader, health-care provider, or employer.

• KY. REV. STAT. ANN. § 510.010
• KY. REV. STAT. ANN. § 510.060
• KY. REV. STAT. ANN. § 532.045
• KY. REV. STAT. ANN. § 600.020
• Sentencing, KY. REV. STAT. ANN. §§ 532.020, 534.030

• Deviate sexual intercourse with another person by forcible compulsion; or
• Deviate sexual intercourse with another person who cannot consent because:
• that person is physically helpless; or
• that person is under 12 years old.

Sodomy in the 1st Degree is a Class B felony punishable by 10-20 years’ imprisonment unless the victim is under 12 years of age or receives a serious physical injury, in which case it is a Class A felony, punishable by 20-50 years’ imprisonment or life in prison), and in each case also subject to a fine in an amount not less than $1,000 and not greater than $10,000.

The following definitions are relevant to this crime:

• “Deviate sexual intercourse” means any act of sexual gratification involving the sex organs of one person and the mouth or anus of another; or penetration of the anus of one person by a foreign object manipulated by another person. It does not include penetration of the anus by any body part or a foreign object in the course of the performance of generally recognized health-care practices.
• See “Rape in the First Degree” for definitions relevant to this offense.

• KY. REV. STAT. ANN. § 510.010
• KY. REV. STAT. ANN. § 510.070
• Sentencing, KY. REV. STAT. ANN. §§ 532.020, 534.030

• Deviate sexual intercourse by someone 18 or older with someone younger than 14; or
• Deviate sexual intercourse with someone who is mentally incapacitated or who is incapable of consent because he or she is an individual with an intellectual disability

• Sodomy in the second degree is a Class C felony punishable by 5-10 years’ imprisonment, unless the offender is a person in a position of authority or position of special trust, in which case it is a Class B felony punishable by 10-20 years’ imprisonment, and in each case also subject to a fine in an amount not less than $1,000 and not greater than $10,000.

• See “Rape in the Second Degree,” “Rape in the Third Degree” and “Sodomy in the First Degree” for definitions relevant to this offense.

• KY. REV. STAT. ANN. § 510.010
• KY. REV. STAT. ANN. § 510.080
• KY. REV. STAT. ANN. § 532.045
• Sentencing, KY. REV. STAT. ANN. §§ 532.020, 534.030

Occurs when:

• A person is 21 or older and has deviate sexual intercourse with someone younger than 16;
• A person is at least 10 years older than a person 16 or 17 years old at the time of deviate sexual intercourse;
• A person is 21 or older and has deviate sexual intercourse with someone younger than 18 for whom he or she provides a foster home family home;
• A person is in a position of authority or special trust and has deviate sexual intercourse with a minor whom that person met through their position of authority or trust;
• A person is a jailer, or an employee, contractor, vendor, or volunteer of the Department of Corrections, Department of Juvenile Justice, or a detention facility, or of an entity under contract with either department or a detention facility for the custody, supervision, evaluation, or treatment of offenders, and subjects another person the offender knows to be incarcerated, supervised, evaluated, or treated by the correctional system to deviate sexual intercourse; or
• A peace officer, while serving in that capacity, subjects a person who the officer arrested, held in custody, or investigated for commission of a traffic or criminal offense, or knew or should have known was under arrest, held in custody, or being investigated for commission of a traffic or criminal offense, to deviate sexual intercourse.

• Sodomy in the third degree is a Class D felony punishable by 1-5 years’ imprisonment and a fine in an amount not less than $1,000 and not greater than $10,000.

• See “Rape in the Third Degree” and “Sodomy in the First Degree” for definitions relevant to this offense.

• KY. REV. STAT. ANN. § 510.010
• KY. REV. STAT. ANN. § 510.090
• Sentencing, KY. REV. STAT. ANN. §§ 532.020, 534.030

• Sodomy in the fourth degree was defined as engaging in deviate sexual intercourse with another person of the same sex, where consent was not a defense.

• N/A

• REV. STAT. ANN. § 510.100 (Sodomy in the fourth degree) was held unconstitutional in 1992 (Com. v. Wasson, 842 S.W.2d 487 (Ky. 1992)).
• Any state laws that outright prohibit sodomy are unconstitutional under Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 588 (2003).

• N/A

Occurs when:

• Is physically helpless;
• Is younger than 12 years old;
• Is mentally incapacitated; or
• Has an intellectual disability
• Subjects another person to sexual contact who is incapable of consent because he or she:
• A person subjects another person to sexual contact by forcible compulsion; or
• Being 21 or older, he or she:
• Subjects another person who is younger than 16 to sexual contact;
• Engages in masturbation in the presence of another person who is less than 16 years old and knows or has reason to know the other person is present; or
• Engages in masturbation while using the Internet, telephone, or other electronic communication device while communicating with a minor who the person knows is less than 16 years old, and the minor can see or hear the person masturbate; or
• Being a person in a position of authority or position of special trust he or she, regardless of his or her age, subjects a minor younger than 18, with whom he or she comes into contact as a result of that position, to sexual contact or engages in masturbation in the presence of the minor and knows or has reason to know the minor is present or engages in masturbation while using the Internet, telephone, or other electronic communication device while communicating with a minor who the person knows is less than 16 years old, and the minor can see or hear the person masturbate.

• Sexual abuse in the first degree is a Class D felony punishable by 1-5 years’ imprisonment, unless the victim is younger than 12 years old, in which case the offense is a Class C felony punishable by 5-10 years’ imprisonment, and in each case also subject to a fine in an amount not less than $1,000 and not greater than $10,000.

The following definitions are relevant to this crime:

• “Sexual contact” means the touching of a person’s intimate parts or the touching of the clothing or other material intended to cover the immediate area of a person’s intimate parts, if that touching can be construed by a reasonable person as being done: (a) for the purpose of sexual arousal or gratification of either party; (b) for a sexual purpose; or (c) in a sexual manner for the purpose of: 1. exacting revenge or retribution; 2. humiliating or degrading; or 3. Punishment.
• See “Rape in the First Degree,” “Rape in the Second Degree,” “Rape in the Third Degree” and “Sodomy in the First Degree” for definitions relevant to this offense.

• KY. REV. STAT. ANN. § 510.010
• KY. REV. STAT. ANN. § 510.110
• Sentencing, KY. REV. STAT. ANN. §§ 532.020, 534.030

Occurs when:

• The offender is at least 18 but younger than 21 years old and subjects another person who is younger than 16 years old to sexual contact;
• A person is a jailer, or an employee, contractor, vendor, or volunteer of the Department of Corrections, Department of Juvenile Justice, or a detention facility, or of an entity under contract with either department or a detention facility for the custody, supervision, evaluation, or treatment of offenders, and subjects a person who is at least 18 and who he or she knows is incarcerated, supervised, evaluated, or treated by correctional system to sexual contact; or
• A peace officer, while serving in that capacity, subjects a person who the officer arrested, held in custody, or investigated for commission of a traffic or criminal offense, or knew or should have known was under arrest, held in custody, or being investigated for commission of a traffic or criminal offense, to sexual contact.

• Sexual abuse in the second degree is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by between 90 days and up to 12 months’ imprisonment and a fine up to $500.
• In any prosecution of an offender that is at least 18 but younger than 21 years old for subjecting another person who is younger than 16 years old to sexual contact, it is a defense that the younger person’s lack of consent was due solely to incapacity to consent by reason of being less than 16 years old, the younger person was at least 14 years old, and the offender was less than five years older than the other person.

• See “Rape in the Third Degree” and “Sexual Abuse in the First Degree” for definitions relevant to this offense.

• KY. REV. STAT. ANN. § 510.120
• Sentencing, KY. REV. STAT. ANN. §§ 532.020, 534.040

• Subjecting another person to sexual contact without the latter’s consent.

• Sexual Abuse in the third degree is a Class B misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days’ imprisonment and a fine up to $250

• See “Sexual Abuse in the First Degree” for definitions relevant to this offense.

• KY. REV. STAT. ANN. § 510.130
• Sentencing, KY. REV. STAT. ANN. § 532.020

• Engaging in sexual intercourse or deviate sexual intercourse with another person without the latter's consent.

• Sexual Misconduct is a Class A misdemeanor (between 90 days and up to 12 months’ imprisonment).

• N/A

• KY. REV. STAT. ANN. § 510.140
• Sentencing, KY. REV. STAT. ANN. § 532.020

Statutory rape is not specifically penalized in Kentucky.  But several statutes criminalize specific sex acts with minors:

• Sex with persons under 12 is first degree rape;
• Sex with someone older than 12 but younger than 14 is second degree rape;
• A 21 year old who has sexual intercourse with someone younger than 16 commits rape in the third degree;
• Deviate sexual intercourse with someone younger than 12 is sodomy in the first degree;
• Deviate sexual intercourse between an 18+ year old and someone younger than 14 constitutes sodomy in the second degree;
• Deviate sexual intercourse between a 21+ year old and someone younger than 16 is sodomy in the third degree;
• Sexual contact with someone younger than 12, or between someone 21+ years old and someone younger than 16, constitutes sexual abuse in the first degree; and
• Sexual contact between someone older than 18 but younger than 21 with someone younger than 16 is sexual abuse in the second degree.

• First degree rape is a class A felony when the victim is younger than 12 (imprisonment of at least 20 years, but not more than 50 years or life).
• Second degree rape is a class C felony (imprisonment of at least 5 years but not more than 10 years).
• Third degree rape is a class D felony (imprisonment of at least 1 year but not more than 5 years).
• First degree sodomy is a class A felony when the victim is younger than 12 (imprisonment of at least 20 years, but not more than 50 years or life).
• Second degree sodomy is a class C felony (imprisonment of at least 5 years but not more than 10 years).
• Third degree sodomy is a class D felony (imprisonment of at least 1 year but not more than 5 years).
• First degree sexual abuse is a class C felony (imprisonment of at least 5 years but not more than 10 years).
• Second degree sexual abuse is a class A misdemeanor (imprisonment for a definite term between 90 days and 12 months).

• N/A

• KY. REV. STAT. ANN. § 510.040 et sequential
• Sentencing, KY. REV. STAT. ANN. § 532.020