Child molestation in the first degree.
Known as the Washington Criminal Code
The act spans §§ 9–9 (401 sections).
Applied in 161 court decisions — leading case State v. Delgado (2003)
Most recently applied in State Of Washington, V. Patrick Michael Callahan (May 2025)
2021 c 142 s 5; 1994 c 271 s 303; 1990 c 3 s 902; 1988 c 145 s 5.
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 child molestation in the first degree when the person has, or knowingly causes another person under the age of eighteen to have, sexual contact with another who is less than twelve years old and the perpetrator is at least thirty-six months older than the victim.
(2) Child molestation in the first degree is a class A felony.
Official source: Washington State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Washington statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.