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RCW 9A.48.100

Malicious mischief—"Physical damage" defined.

Known as the Washington Criminal Code

The act spans §§ 9–9 (401 sections).

Applied in 11 court decisions — leading case State v. Wooten (2013)

Most recently applied in Rodriguez-Hernandez v. Garland (December 2023)

2013 c 322 s 1; 1984 c 273 s 4; 1981 c 260 s 2

How often courts cite this section

1995200020102020202330
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.

*** CHANGE IN 2026 *** (SEE 2178-S.SL) ***

For the purposes of RCW 9A.48.070 through 9A.48.090 inclusive:

(1) "Physical damage," in addition to its ordinary meaning, shall include the total or partial alteration, damage, obliteration, or erasure of records, information, data, computer programs, or their computer representations, which are recorded for use in computers or the impairment, interruption, or interference with the use of such records, information, data, or computer programs, or the impairment, interruption, or interference with the use of any computer or services provided by computers. "Physical damage" also includes any diminution in the value of any property as the consequence of an act and the cost to repair any physical damage;

(2) If more than one item of property is physically damaged as a result of a common scheme or plan by a person and the physical damage to the property would, when considered separately, constitute mischief in the third degree because of value, then the value of the damages may be aggregated in one count. If the sum of the value of all the physical damages exceeds two hundred fifty dollars, the defendant may be charged with and convicted of malicious mischief in the second degree.

Official source: Washington State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Washington statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.