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Ark. Code Ann. § 5-27-307

Sexually grooming a child

Applied in 2 court decisions — leading case Thomas Hartley v. State of Arkansas (2022)

Most recently applied in 2026 Ark. App. 49 - John Cullum v. State of Arkansas (January 2026)

Acts 2013, No. 1114, § 2.

(1) As used in this section, “disseminates” means to allow to view, expose, furnish, present, sell, or otherwise distribute.

(2) A person commits sexually grooming a child if he or she knowingly disseminates to a child thirteen (13) years of age or younger with or without consideration a visual or print medium depicting sexually explicit conduct with the purpose to entice, induce, or groom the child thirteen (13) years of age or younger to engage in the following with a person: Sexual intercourse;

(3) Sexually explicit conduct; or

(4) Deviate sexual activity.

(5) Sexually grooming a child is a: Class D felony if the actor is twenty-one (21) years of age or older; or

(6) Class A misdemeanor if the actor is younger than twenty-one (21) years of age.

(7) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under this section that the actor was not more than three (3) years older than the victim.

(8) It is not a defense to prosecution under this section that the actor does not know the age of the child or believes the child is fourteen (14) years of age or older.

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.