KRS 508.120

Criminal abuse in the third degree

Applied in 8 court decisions — leading case Ratliff v. Commonwealth (2006)

Most recently applied in Peacher v. Commonwealth (February 2013)

Effective: July 15, 1982 History: Created 1982 Ky

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 is guilty of criminal abuse in the third degree when he recklessly abuses another person or permits another person of whom he has actual custody to be abused and thereby:

(a) Causes serious physical injury; or (b) Places him in a situation that may cause him serious physical injury; or (c) Causes torture, cruel confinement or cruel punishment; to a person twelve (12) years of age or less, or who is physically helpless or mentally helpless.

(2) Criminal abuse in the third degree is a Class A misdemeanor.

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