Sex Crimes: Definitions and Penalties
Nevada

A person is guilty of sexual assault if:

• The person subjects another person to sexual penetration, or forces another person to make a sexual penetration on themselves or another, or on a beast, against the will of the victim or under conditions in which the perpetrator knows or should know that the victim is mentally or physically incapable of resisting or understanding the nature of the perpetrator’s conduct; or
• The person commits a sexual penetration upon a child under the age of 14 years or causes a child under the age of 14 years to make a sexual penetration on themselves or another, or on a beast. NRS 200.366(1).

The provisions of this section do not apply to a person who is less than 18 years of age and who commits a sexual penetration upon a child under the age of 14 years or causes a child under the age of 14 years to make a sexual penetration on himself or herself or another, or on a beast, if the person is not more than 2 years older than the person upon whom the act was committed unless:

• The person committing the act uses force or threatens the use of force; or
• The person committing the act knows or should know that the victim is mentally or physically incapable of resisting or understanding the nature of the perpetrator’s conduct. NRS 200.366(5).

• Category A felony and shall be punished (except as otherwise provided):
• If substantial bodily harm to the victim results from the actions of the defendant committed in connection with or as a part of the sexual assault, by imprisonment in the state prison:
• For life without the possibility of parole; or
• For life with the possibility of parole after a minimum of 15 years has been served.
• If no substantial bodily harm to the victim results, by imprisonment for life with the possibility of parole after a minimum of 10 years has been served.
• A person who commits a sexual assault against a child under the age of 16 years is guilty of a category A felony and shall be punished:
• If the crime results in substantial bodily harm to the child, by imprisonment in the state prison for life without the possibility of parole.
• Except as otherwise provided below, if the crime does not result in substantial bodily harm to the child, by imprisonment in the state prison for life with the possibility of parole, with eligibility for parole beginning when a minimum of 25 years has been served.
• If the crime is committed against a child under the age of 14 years and does not result in substantial bodily harm to the child, by imprisonment in the state prison for life with the possibility of parole, with eligibility for parole beginning when a minimum of 35 years has been served.
• A person who commits a sexual assault against a child under the age of 16 years is guilty of a category A felony and shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for life without the possibility of parole if that person has been previously convicted of:
• A sexual assault pursuant to this section or any other sexual offense against a child; or
• An offense committed in another jurisdiction that, if committed in Nevada, would constitute a sexual assault pursuant to this section or any other sexual offense against a child.

• Sexual penetration:
• Sexual intercourse in its ordinary meaning, cunnilingus, fellatio, anal intercourse, or any intrusion, however slight, of any part of a person’s body or any object manipulated or inserted by a person into the genital or anal openings of the body of another, which can be reasonably construed as being for nonmedical, nonhealth, or nonlaw enforcement purposes.
• Sexual intercourse does not require emission of semen. Nev. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 200.364.
• Other sexual offense against a child:
•  Any act committed by an adult upon a child constituting:
• Incest;
• Lewdness with a child;
• Sado-masochistic abuse; or
• Luring a child using a computer, system or network, if punished as a felony.
• It is no defense to a charge of sexual assault that the perpetrator was, at the time of the assault, married to the victim, if the assault was committed by force or by the threat of force. Nev. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 200.373.
• Rape victim is not required to do more than her age, strength, surrounding facts and all attending circumstances make it reasonable for her to do in order to manifest her opposition. Dinkens v. State, 546 P.2d 228, 92 Nev. 74 (1976).

• Nev. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 200.366

• Ordinary sexual intercourse, anal intercourse, or sexual penetration committed by a person 18 years of age or older with a person who is 14 or 15 years of age and who is at least 4 years younger than the perpetrator.

• If the person is 21 years of age or older, Category B felony:
• Imprisonment for a minimum of 1 year and a maximum of 10 years.
• Court may impose fine of not more than $10,000.
• If under the age of 21 years, gross misdemeanor:
• Imprisonment for not more than 364 days, or by a fine of not more than $2,000, or both.
• If under the age of 21 years and previously convicted of a sexual offense, Category D felony:
• Imprisonment for a minimum of 1 year and a maximum of 4 years.
• Court may impose fine of not more than $5,000.

• Reasonable mistake of fact as to age of victim was not a defense to statutory sexual seduction. Jenkins v. State, 110 Nev. 865, 877 P.2d 1063 (1994).
• Sexual penetration:
• Sexual intercourse in its ordinary meaning, cunnilingus, fellatio, anal intercourse, or any intrusion, however slight, of any part of a person’s body or any object manipulated or inserted by a person into the genital or anal openings of the body of another, which can be reasonably construed as being for nonmedical, nonhealth, or nonlaw enforcement purposes.
• Sexual intercourse does not require emission of semen.

Nev. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§  200.364, 200.368

• Persons being with the degree of consanguinity within which marriages are declared by law to be incestuous and void who intermarry with each other, or
• Who commit fornication or adultery with each other.

• Category A felony:
• Imprisonment for a minimum of not less than 2 years and a maximum of life with the possibility of parole.
• May be fined not more than $10,000.

• Incest condemns sex between close relatives without regard to whether the intercourse was consensual.  Douglas v. State, 327 P.3d 492, 130 Nev. 285 (2014).

• Nev. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 201.180

• “Statutory rape” is commonly used to refer to sexual penetration that is illegal because it involves a youth.
  • Nevada has no specific statutory rape statute, but addresses similar concerns under Nev. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 200.366, “Sexual Assault,” and Nev. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 200.368, “Statutory Sexual Seduction.”

See Nev. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 200.366, “Sexual Assault,” and Nev. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 200.368, “Statutory Sexual Seduction.”

See Nev. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 200.366, “Sexual Assault,” and Nev. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 200.368, “Statutory Sexual Seduction.”

• Nev. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 200.366 & 200.368

• Nevada does not have an anti-sodomy law.

• N/A

• Any state laws that outright prohibit sodomy are unconstitutional under Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 588 (2003).

N/A