Mass. Gen. Laws » Part IV Title I Chapter 265
Massachusetts General Laws

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 265, § 22 (2026)

Rape, generally; weapons; punishment; eligibility for furlough, education, training or employment programs; offenses committed by law enforcement officer against person in his or her custody

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Section 22. (a) Whoever has sexual intercourse or unnatural sexual intercourse with a person, and compels such person to submit by force and against his will, or compels such person to submit by threat of bodily injury and if either such sexual intercourse or unnatural sexual intercourse results in or is committed with acts resulting in serious bodily injury, or is committed by a joint enterprise, or is committed during the commission or attempted commission of an offense defined in section fifteen A, fifteen B, seventeen, nineteen or twenty-six of this chapter, section fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen or eighteen of chapter two hundred and sixty-six or section ten of chapter two hundred and sixty-nine shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for life or for any term of years.

No person serving a sentence for a second or subsequent such offense shall be eligible for furlough, temporary release, or education, training or employment programs established outside a correctional facility until such person shall have served two-thirds of such minimum sentence or if such person has two or more sentences to be served otherwise than concurrently, two-thirds of the aggregate of the minimum terms of such several sentences.

(b) Whoever has sexual intercourse or unnatural sexual intercourse with a person and compels such person to submit by force and against his will, or compels such person to submit by threat of bodily injury, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than twenty years; and whoever commits a second or subsequent such offense shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for life or for any term or years.

Whoever commits any offense described in this section while being armed with a firearm, as defined in section 121 of chapter 140, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not less than ten years. Whoever commits a second or subsequent such offense shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for life or for any term of years, but not less than 15 years.

No person serving a sentence for a second or subsequent such offense shall be eligible for furlough, temporary release, or education, training or employment programs established outside a correctional facility until such person shall have served two-thirds of such minimum sentence or if such person has two or more sentences to be served otherwise than concurrently, two-thirds of the aggregate of the minimum terms of such several sentences.

For the purposes of prosecution, the offense described in subsection (b) shall be a lesser included offense to that described in subsection (a).

(c) A law enforcement officer who has sexual intercourse with a person in the custody or control of the law enforcement officer shall be found to be in violation of subsection (b), provided, however, that for the purposes of this subsection, ″sexual intercourse″ shall include vaginal, oral or anal intercourse, including fellatio, cunnilingus or other intrusion of a part of a person's body or an object into the genital or anal opening of another person's body. In a prosecution commenced under this subsection, a person shall be deemed incapable of consent to sexual intercourse with such law enforcement officer. For the purposes of this subsection, ''law enforcement officer'' shall mean a police officer, an auxiliary, intermittent, special, part-time or reserve police officer, a police officer in the employ of a public institution of higher education pursuant to section 5 of chapter 15A, a public prosecutor, a municipal or public emergency medical technician, a deputy sheriff, a correction officer, a court officer, a probation officer, a parole officer, an officer of the department of youth services, a constable, a campus police officer who holds authority as a special state police officer or a person impersonating any of the foregoing.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 277 cases (49 in the last 5 years), 1924–2026 · leading case: Commonwealth v. Caracciola, 569 N.E.2d 774 (Mass. 1991).
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Commonwealth v. Caracciola, 569 N.E.2d 774 (Mass. 1991). · cites it 25× “The defendant was indicted on a charge of rape under G.L.c. 265, § 22. Pursuant to Commonwealth v.”
Aldoupolis v. Commonwealth, 435 N.E.2d 330 (Mass. 1982). · cites it 20× “279, §§ 1 and 1A, of a suspended sentence for the crime of rape charged under G.L.c. 265, § 22; and (3) "[i]n view of the statements of the District Attorney objecting to my imposing a suspended sentence, as well as a desire to have this case tried on its merits.”
State of Iowa v. Michael Cory Kelso-Christy, 911 N.W.2d 663 (Iowa 2018). · cites it 5× “at 1088 (quoting Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 265, § 22 (b)). I acknowledge that the Massachusetts rape statute provides for “by force and against his [or her] will.”
Commonwealth v. McCourt, 781 N.E.2d 808 (Mass. 2003). · cites it 14× “The Appeals Court vacated the defendant’s conviction of aggravated rape, concluding that the statute punishing aggravated rape, G. L. c. 265, § 22 (a), requires that the aggravating factors that transform rape into aggravated rape must play a facilitating role in the rape, and…”
Commonwealth v. Chretien, 417 N.E.2d 1203 (Mass. 1981). · cites it 11× “The defendant contends that the trial judge erroneously ruled that the fact that the victim was the defendant’s wife was no defense to a charge of rape under G. L. c. 265, § 22, as amended by St. 1974, c.”
Butler v. O'BRIEN, 663 F.3d 514 (1st Cir. 2011). · cites it 12× “The state aggravated rape statute, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 265, § 22 (a), provides, in pertinent part: Whoever has sexual intercourse or unnatural sexual intercourse with a person, and compels such person to submit by force and against his will, or compels such person to submit by…”
Commonwealth v. Dargon, 930 N.E.2d 707 (Mass. 2010). · cites it 4× “265, § 13A; and assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon, G. L. c. 265, § 15A ( b ). The defendant appealed.”
Commonwealth v. Sherman, 116 N.E.3d 597 (Mass. 2019). · cites it 5× “To find a defendant guilty of rape under G. L. c. 265, § 22 ( b ), the Commonwealth must prove two elements beyond a reasonable doubt: first, that there was sexual intercourse between the defendant and the victim; and second, that the defendant compelled the victim to submit to…”
Commonwealth v. Scott, 564 N.E.2d 370 (Mass. 1990). · cites it 6× “See G.L.c. 265, § 22 ( a ) (1988 ed.). The jury found the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree on the theory of felony-murder.”
Commonwealth v. Smith, 728 N.E.2d 272 (Mass. 2000). · cites it 6× “In the absence of a definition of “sexual intercourse” in the incest statute, the judge relied on this court’s construction of this term, and of the related term “unnatural sexual intercourse,” in the context of the rape statutes, G. L. c. 265, §§ 22, 22A, 23. In Commonwealth v.”
Commonwealth v. Lopez, 745 N.E.2d 961 (Mass. 2001). · cites it 3× “The current rape statute, G. L. c. 265, § 22 (b), provides in pertinent part: “Whoever has sexual intercourse or unnatural sexual intercourse with a person and compels such person to submit by force and against his will, or compels such person to submit by threat of bodily…”
Commonwealth v. Sherry, 437 N.E.2d 224 (Mass. 1982). · cites it 3× “Each defendant was indicted on three charges of aggravated rape (G. L. c. 265, § 22) and one charge of kidnapping (G.”
Show all 277 citing cases →
— Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 265, § 22(6) — 1 case
Commonwealth v. Juzba, 691 N.E.2d 604 (Mass. App. Ct. 1998).
— Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 265, § 22(A) — 1 case
Commonwealth v. Walker, 866 N.E.2d 958 (Mass. App. Ct. 2007).
— Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 265, § 22(a) — 33 cases
Commonwealth v. McCourt, 767 N.E.2d 1067 (Mass. App. Ct. 2002).
Commonwealth v. Kickery, 583 N.E.2d 869 (Mass. App. Ct. 1991).
Commonwealth v. Dunn, 680 N.E.2d 1178 (Mass. App. Ct. 1997).
Commonwealth v. Wilcox, 891 N.E.2d 708 (Mass. App. Ct. 2008).
Commonwealth v. Coleman, 567 N.E.2d 956 (Mass. App. Ct. 1991).
— Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 265, § 22(b) — 8 cases
Commonwealth v. Antonmarchi, 874 N.E.2d 665 (Mass. App. Ct. 2007).
Commonwealth v. Morris, 16 Mass. L. Rptr. 593 (Mass. Super. Ct. 2003).
Commonwealth v. Lewis (Mass. App. Ct. 2017).
Commonwealth v. Langill, 17 Mass. L. Rptr. 105 (Mass. Super. Ct. 2003).
Commonwealth v. Atchue, 22 Mass. L. Rptr. 590 (Mass. Super. Ct. 2007).
— Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 265, § 22(c) — 1 case
Commonwealth v. Moreschi, 649 N.E.2d 1132 (Mass. App. Ct. 1995).
— Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 265, § 22(h) — 2 cases
Commonwealth v. Newcomb, 954 N.E.2d 67 (Mass. App. Ct. 2011).
Commonwealth v. McDuffie, 16 Mass. App. Ct. 1016 (Mass. App. Ct. 1983).
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