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Ind. Code § 35-42-4-3

Child molesting

Applied in 329 court decisions — leading case Virginia v. Black (2003)

Most recently applied in Nelida Cabeda v. Attorney General United States (August 2020)

As added by Acts 1976, P.L.148, SEC.2

How often courts cite this section

197819801990200020102020260
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.

Sec. 3. (a) A person who, with a child under fourteen (14) years of age, knowingly or intentionally performs or submits to sexual intercourse or other sexual conduct (as defined in IC 35-31.5-2-221.5) commits child molesting, a Level 3 felony. However, the offense is a Level 1 felony if:

(1) it is committed by a person at least twenty-one (21) years of age;

(2) it is committed by using or threatening the use of deadly force or while armed with a deadly weapon;

(3) it results in serious bodily injury;

(4) the commission of the offense is facilitated by furnishing the victim, without the victim's knowledge, with a drug (as defined in IC 16-42-19-2(1)) or a controlled substance (as defined in IC 35-48-1.1-7) or knowing that the victim was furnished with the drug or controlled substance without the victim's knowledge; or

(5) it results in the transmission of a serious sexually transmitted disease and the person knew that the person was infected with the disease.

(b) A person who, with a child under fourteen (14) years of age, performs or submits to any fondling or touching, of either the child or the older person, with intent to arouse or to satisfy the sexual desires of either the child or the older person, commits child molesting, a Level 4 felony. However, the offense is a Level 2 felony if:

(1) it is committed by using or threatening the use of deadly force;

(2) it is committed while armed with a deadly weapon; or

(3) the commission of the offense is facilitated by furnishing the victim, without the victim's knowledge, with a drug (as defined in IC 16-42-19-2(1)) or a controlled substance (as defined in IC 35-48-1.1-7) or knowing that the victim was furnished with the drug or controlled substance without the victim's knowledge.

(c) A person may be convicted of attempted child molesting of an individual at least fourteen (14) years of age if the person believed the individual to be a child under fourteen (14) years of age at the time the person attempted to commit the offense.

(d) It is a defense to a prosecution under this section that the accused person reasonably believed that the child was sixteen (16) years of age or older at the time of the conduct, unless:

(1) the offense is committed by using or threatening the use of deadly force or while armed with a deadly weapon;

(2) the offense results in serious bodily injury; or

(3) the commission of the offense is facilitated by furnishing the victim, without the victim's knowledge, with a drug (as defined in IC 16-42-19-2(1)) or a controlled substance (as defined in IC 35-48-1.1-7) or knowing that the victim was furnished with the drug or controlled substance without the victim's knowledge.

(e) In addition to any other penalty imposed for a violation of this section, the court shall order the person to pay restitution under IC 35-50-5-3 for expenses related to pregnancy and childbirth if the pregnancy is a result of the offense.

Official source: Indiana General Assembly. Reproduced from public-domain Indiana statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.