Skip to content
Georgia Commons
Menu

Official Code of Georgia Annotated

Title 16. CRIMES AND OFFENSES · Chapter 6. SEXUAL OFFENSES

16-6-1. Rape.

Active

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

  1. (a)

    A person commits the offense of rape when he has carnal knowledge of:#

    1. (1)

      A female forcibly and against her will; or#

    2. (2)

      A female who is less than ten years of age.#

    3. Carnal knowledge in rape occurs when there is any penetration of the female sex organ by the male sex organ. The fact that the person allegedly raped is the wife of the defendant shall not be a defense to a charge of rape.

  2. (b)

    A person convicted of the offense of rape shall be punished by death, by imprisonment for life without parole, by imprisonment for life, or by a split sentence that is a term of imprisonment for not less than 25 years and not exceeding life imprisonment, followed by probation for life. Any person convicted under this Code section shall, in addition, be subject to the sentencing and punishment provisions of Code Sections 17-10-6.1 and 17-10-7.#

  3. (c)

    When evidence relating to an allegation of rape is collected in the course of a medical examination of the person who is the victim of the alleged crime, the Georgia Crime Victims Emergency Fund, as provided for in Chapter 15 of Title 17, shall be responsible for the cost of the medical examination to the extent that expense is incurred for the limited purpose of collecting evidence.#

  4. (d)
    1. (1)

      As used in this subsection, the term “sexual felony” shall have the same meaning as set forth in paragraph (2) of subsection (j) of Code Section 16-5-21.#

    2. (2)

      Any person having been previously convicted of a sexual felony who is convicted of the offense of rape shall be punished by imprisonment for life or a split sentence that is a term of imprisonment followed by probation for life. As a condition of probation, the court shall impose the requirement of electronic monitoring as set forth in paragraph (14) of subsection (a) of Code Section 42-8-35.#

The notes below are printed with the section but are not enacted law (O.C.G.A. § 1-1-1(c)). They are shown apart from the text.

History

Laws 1833, Cobb’s 1851 Digest, p. 787.; Code 1863, §§ 4248, 4249; Ga. L. 1866, p. 151, § 1; Code 1868, §§ 4283, 4284; Code 1873, §§ 4349, 4350; Code 1882, §§ 4349, 4350; Penal Code 1895, §§ 93, 94; Penal Code 1910, §§ 93, 94; Code 1933, §§ 26-1301, 26-1302; Ga. L. 1960, p. 266, § 1; Code 1933, § 26-2001, enacted by Ga. L. 1968, p. 1249, § 1; Ga. L. 1978, p. 3, § 1; Ga. L. 1994, p. 1959, § 5; Ga. L. 1996, p. 1115, § 1; Ga. L. 1997, p. 6, § 2; Ga. L. 1999, p. 666, § 1; Ga. L. 2006, p. 379, § 8/HB 1059; Ga. L. 2011, p. 214, § 1/HB 503; Ga. L. 2023, p. 637, § 3-4/HB 188, effective May 4, 2023.

Amendments

The 2023 amendment, effective May 4, 2023, added subsection (d). See Editor’s notes for applicability.

Editor's notes

Ga. L. 2023, p. 637, § 1-1/HB 188, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: “This Act shall be known and may be cited as ‘Mariam’s Law.’” Ga. L. 2023, p. 637, § 7-1/HB 188, not codified by the General Assembly, provides, in part, that the punishment provisions of subsection (d) shall apply to all offenses committed on and after July 1, 2023.

Law reviews

For article, “The Costs of Changing Our Minds,” see 69 Emory L.J. 75 (2019).

Read the official page (the state's PDF, opened at the page this text was read from).

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

Text read from t16-ch1-6-(v14)-pdf.pdf, Volume V14, 2019 edition, 2025 supplement, pages 160 to 161; merge action: replaced; file SHA-256 575f9121d25f.