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Ark. Code Ann. § 5-2-203

Culpable mental states — Interpretation of statutes

Applied in 32 court decisions — leading case Walley v. State (2003)

Most recently applied in Cesaire Rice v. State of Arkansas (June 2025)

Acts 1975, No. 280, § 204; A.S.A. 1947, § 41-204.

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Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(1) If a statute defining an offense prescribes a culpable mental state and does not clearly indicate that the culpable mental state applies to less than all of the elements of the offense, the prescribed culpable mental state applies to each element of the offense.

(2) Except as provided in §§ 5-2-204(b) and (c), if the statute defining an offense does not prescribe a culpable mental state, a culpable mental state is nonetheless required and is established only if a person acts purposely, knowingly, or recklessly.

(3) When a statute defining an offense provides that acting negligently suffices to establish an element of that offense, the element also is established if a person acts purposely, knowingly, or recklessly.

(4) When acting recklessly suffices to establish an element, the element also is established if a person acts purposely or knowingly.

(5) When acting knowingly suffices to establish an element, the element also is established if a person acts purposely.

(6) Knowledge that conduct constitutes an offense or knowledge of the existence, meaning, or application of the statute defining an offense is not an element of an offense unless the statute clearly so provides.

Current official text: Arkansas General Assembly. Digitized from the UniCourt Code Improvement Commission public-domain capture. Reproduced from public-domain Arkansas statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.