A person generally commits the criminal offense of rape by using force, threats of force, coercion, or fraud to have non-consensual sexual intercourse with another person. In some states this criminal offense is called sexual assault. Rape is a felony offense with significant jail or prison time as potential punishment.

Laws vary from state to state and some state laws also include in the definition of rape sexual intercourse with a person who is intoxicated by drugs or alcohol, unconscious, or mentally disabled and unable to consent to the sexual intercourse. And some states have a broad definition of the lack of consent to sexual contact constituting rape and include sexual contact with public servants (police officers, etc.), members of the clergy, mental health service providers, and employees of assisted living centers or nursing homes as lacking consent under some circumstances.

In some states it is rape or sexual assault for a health care services provider performing an assisted reproduction procedure to use human reproductive material from a donor other than the patient’s intended donor.

Rape or sexual assault laws are generally located in a state’s statutes—often in the penal or criminal code.

In Nevada, rape is legally referred to as sexual assault and is defined under Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS) 200.366. The law states that a person commits sexual assault by subjecting another person to sexual penetration, or forcing them to penetrate someone else, against their will or under conditions where the perpetrator knows or should know that the victim is mentally or physically incapable of resisting or understanding the nature of their conduct. This includes situations where the victim is intoxicated, unconscious, or otherwise unable to consent. Sexual assault is a felony in Nevada, and the penalties can be severe, including life imprisonment in certain cases, especially when the victim is a child or if the perpetrator has prior convictions for the same or similar offenses. Nevada law also recognizes that sexual assault can occur under specific circumstances involving abuse of power or trust, such as with public servants, clergy, mental health service providers, and employees of certain care facilities. Additionally, Nevada law criminalizes the act of a health care provider using human reproductive material from a donor that is not the intended donor during an assisted reproduction procedure. The statutes provide a comprehensive framework for what constitutes lack of consent and the various scenarios under which sexual assault can occur.