Ark. Code Ann. § 5-60-101

Abuse of a corpse

Applied in 7 court decisions — leading case Dougan v. State (1995)

Most recently applied in 2025 Ark. App. 250 - Derek Payne v. State of Arkansas (April 2025)

Acts 1975, No. 280, § 2920; A.S.A. 1947, § 41-2920; Acts 2011, No. 1003, § 1; 2011, No. 1158, § 1.

How often courts cite this section

citing decisions per year

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) A person commits abuse of a corpse if, except as authorized by law, he or she knowingly: Disinters, removes, dissects, or mutilates a corpse; or

(2) Physically mistreats or conceals a corpse in a manner offensive to a person of reasonable sensibilities.

(3) A person who conceals a corpse in a manner offensive to a person of reasonable sensibilities that results in the corpse remaining concealed is continuing in a course of conduct under § 5-1-109(e)(1)(B).

(4) As used in this section, “in a manner offensive to a person of reasonable sensibilities” means in a manner that is outside the normal practices of handling or disposing of a corpse.

(5) “In a manner offensive to a person of reasonable sensibilities” includes without limitation the dismembering, submerging, or burning of a corpse.

(6) Abuse of a corpse is a Class C felony.

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.