North Carolina § 14-27 - 20. Definitions.

§ 14-27. 20. Definitions.

The following definitions apply in this Article: Repealed by Session Laws 2018-47, s. 4(a), effective December 1, 2018. Against the will of the other person. - Either of the following: Without consent of the other person. After consent is revoked by the other person, in a manner that would cause a reasonable person to believe consent is revoked. Mentally incapacitated. - A victim who due to any act is rendered substantially incapable of either appraising the nature of his or her conduct, or resisting the act of vaginal intercourse or a sexual act. Person who has a mental disability. - A victim who has an intellectual disability or a mental disorder that temporarily or permanently renders the victim substantially incapable of appraising the nature of his or her conduct, or of resisting the act of vaginal intercourse or a sexual act, or of communicating unwillingness to submit to the act of vaginal intercourse or a sexual act. Physically helpless. - Any of the following: A victim who is unconscious. A victim who is physically unable to resist an act of vaginal intercourse or a sexual act or communicate unwillingness to submit to an act of vaginal intercourse or a sexual act. Sexual act. - Cunnilingus, fellatio, analingus, or anal intercourse, but does not include vaginal intercourse. Sexual act also means the penetration, however slight, by any object into the genital or anal opening of another person's body. It is an affirmative defense that the penetration was for accepted medical purposes. Sexual contact. - Any of the following: Touching the sexual organ, anus, breast, groin, or buttocks of any person. A person touching another person with their own sexual organ, anus, breast, groin, or buttocks. A person ejaculating, emitting, or placing semen, urine, or feces upon any part of another person. Touching. - As used in subdivision (5) of this section, means physical contact with another person, whether accomplished directly, through the clothing of the person committing the offense, or through the clothing of the victim. History (1979, c. 682, s. 1; 2002-159, s. 2(a); 2003-252, s. 1; 2006-247, s. 12(a); 2015-181, s. 2; 2018-47, s. 4(a); 2019-245, ss. 5(a), 6(c).) Cross References. - For the Address Confidentiality Program, see G.S. 15C-1 et seq. Editor's Note. - Session Laws 2006-247, s. 1(a), provides: "This act shall be known as 'An Act To Protect North Carolina's Children/Sex Offender Law Changes.'" Session Laws 2006-247, s. 21, is a severability clause. Session Laws 2006-247, s. 22, provides, in part: "Prosecutions for offenses committed before the effective date of this act are not abated or affected by this act, and the statutes that would be applicable but for this act remain applicable to those prosecutions." This section was formerly codified as G.S. 14-27.1 . It was recodified as G.S. 14-27.20 by Session Laws 2015-181, s. 2, effective December 1, 2015. Session Laws 2015-181, s. 48, made the recodification of this section by Session Laws 2015-181, s. 2, effective December 1, 2015, and applicable to offenses committed on or after that date, and further provided that: "Prosecutions for offenses committed before the effective date of this act are not abated or affected by this act, and the statutes that would be applicable but for this act remain applicable to those prosecutions." Session Laws 2018-47, s. 15, provides: "This act does not affect the coverage, eligibility, rights, responsibilities, or provision of State or federal services or benefits for individuals who have been diagnosed with mental retardation and whose diagnosis has not been changed to a diagnosis of intellectual disability." Session Laws 2018-47, s. 16, made the rewriting of this section by Session Laws 2018-47, s. 4(a), effective December 1, 2018, and applicable to offenses committed on or after that date. Session Laws 2019-245, s. 5(b), made subdivision (1a), as added by Session Laws 2019-245, s. 5(a), effective December 1, 2019, and applicable to offenses committed on or after that date. Session Laws 2019-245, s. 9(c), made the amendment of subdivision (2) of this section by Session Laws 2019-245, s. 6(c), effective December 1, 2019, and applicable to offenses committed on or after that date. Session Laws 2019-245, s. 9(a), is a severability clause. Effect of Amendments. - Session Laws 2006-247, s. 12(a), effective December 1, 2006, and applicable to offenses committed on or after that date, added clause (iii) of subdivision (5) and made minor stylistic changes. Session Laws 2018-47, s. 4(a), rewrote the section. For effective date and applicability, see editor's note. Session Laws 2019-245, s. 5(a), added subdivision (1a). For effective date and applicability, see editor's note. Session Laws 2019-245, s. 6(c), substituted "any act" for "(i) any act committed upon the victim or (ii) a poisonous or controlled substance provided to the victim without the knowledge or consent of the victim" in subdivision (2). For effective date and applicability, see editor's note. Legal Periodicals. - For article on a model act to prevent the sexual exploitation of children, see 17 Wake Forest L. Rev. 535 (1981). For note discussing "serious personal injury" in rapes and sexual offenses in light of State v. Boone, 307 N.C. 198 , 297 S.E.2d 585 (1982), see 19 Wake Forest L. Rev. 881 (1983). For note, "The 'Outer Limits' of the Right of Privacy: Bowers v. Hardwick," see 22 Wake Forest L. Rev. 629 (1987). For note that addresses the effect of a recent United States Supreme Court decision on sodomy laws and the manner in which society may shape its characterization of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and homosexuality, see 66 N.C.L. Rev. 226 (1987). For note, "The General Fear Theory and Intrafamilial Sexual Assault," see 66 N.C.L. Rev. 1177 (1988). For survey on new penalties for criminal behavior in schools, see 22 Campbell L. Rev. 253 (2000). For note, "Antiquated Notions of Womanhood and the Myth of the Unstoppable Male: Why Post-penetration Rape Should Be a Crime in North Carolina," see 82 N.C.L. Rev. 1258 (2004). For article, "Transforming Teenagers into Oral Sex Felons: The Persistence of the Crime Against Nature After Lawrence v. Texas," see 43 Wake Forest L. Rev. 155 (2008).