All rape by instrumentation in Oklahoma is now defined as First Degree Rape by Instrumentation. This law change removes Second Degree Rape By Instrumentation. There is no longer a requirement of bodily harm or consideration of the victim’s age for a rape by instrumentation to constitute First Degree Rape By Instrumentation. Prior to November 2017, First Degree Rape By Instrumentation required either bodily harm or a victim 13 years old or younger.
Rape or Rape by Instrumentation in the First Degree occurs when the rape is:
- Committed by a person over 18 upon a person under 14;
- Committed upon a person incapable through mental illness or any unsoundness of mind of giving legal consent regardless of the age of the person committing the crime;
- Accomplished where the victim is intoxicated by a narcotic or anesthetic agent, administered by or with the privity of the accused as a means of forcing the victim to submit;
- Accomplished where the victim is at the time unconscious of the nature of the act and this fact is known to the accused;
- Accomplished with any person by means of force, violence, or threats of force or violence accompanied by apparent power of execution regardless of the age of the person committing the crime; or
- By instrumentation regardless of the age of the victim or the age of the person committing the crime.
Rape in all other situations is Rape in the Second Degree. Rape by instrumentation occurs when any inanimate object or any part of the human body, not amounting to sexual intercourse, is used in the carnal knowledge of another person without his or her consent and penetration of the anus or vagina occurs to that person. Note—nobody can be convicted of rape or rape by instrumentation on account of an act of sexual intercourse with anyone over the age of 14, with his or her consent, unless such person was over the age of 18 years at the time of such act.
Punishment for Rape in the First Degree
Rape in the First Degree is a felony. A first offense is punishable by death or imprisonment in the Department of Corrections from five years–life or life without parole. Someone convicted of this for a second time is not eligible for any form of probation. A third or subsequent violation requires imprisonment in the Department of Corrections for either life or life without parole.
HB 1005 amended 21 O.S. § 1114. It went into effect November 1, 2017.
Sources: HB 1005, 21 O.S. § 1114, 21 O.S. § 1115, 21 O.S. § 1111.1, 21 O.S. § 1113, & 21 O.S. § 1112.